During Pope Francis’ funeral, Donald Trump and his wife Melania were spotted having a short conversation, and a lip reader claims to have figured out what was said.
Thousands of mourners, including world leaders like Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy, gathered in Vatican City to say goodbye to the late pontiff, who died on Easter Monday. Trump, wearing a bright blue suit that made him stand out among the mostly black-dressed crowd, attended the two-hour service alongside Melania, who wore a black blazer, pencil skirt, and a lace veil.
At one point, when everyone stood up about halfway through the service, Trump leaned over to Melania and spoke to her. According to forensic lip reader Nicola Hickling, he said, *”I’ll go over and speak to him.”* It’s not completely clear who he meant by “him,” but Melania reportedly just gave him a bit of a “side eye” and didn’t respond out loud.
Even though there were earlier worries that the Trumps would be stuck with less important seats, they actually ended up very visible on the live TV broadcast, sitting close to the front.
A little background: Trump was raised Presbyterian but now calls himself a non-denominational Christian. Melania, on the other hand, is Catholic — the first Catholic First Lady since Jackie Kennedy. Back in 2017, when she first met Pope Francis, she brought rosary beads to be blessed and said afterwards that meeting him was something she would “never forget.”
Talking about why he attended the funeral, Trump later said it was all about respect. He mentioned how he had won a large share of the Catholic vote when he ran for president and felt he had a strong relationship with the Catholic community, so attending the service was, in his words, “appropriate.”
Even though some people have mixed feelings about Trump, the small moment between him and Melania during the funeral definitely caught a lot of attention.
