Trump Calls Meeting with Pope "Fantastic"; Catholic Sean Spicer Left Out of Pope Meeting.
KEILAR: A meeting of minds over a year in the making has finally happened. Pope Francis and President Trump putting a war of words behind them inside of the Vatican. The two met today in a private 30-minute session, and reports are that the mood was kind of tense in the beginning, but when it was over, here's what happened.</s>DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Thank you very much. I won't forget what you said. Good luck.</s>KEILAR: That's pretty good, right? The relationship has not always been this cordial. Pretty contentious, in fact. Remember some comments during the election like this.</s>POPE FRANCIS (through translation): A person who thinks about building walls wherever they may be and not building bridges is not a Christian.</s>TRUMP: If and when the Vatican is attacked by ISIS, which, as everyone knows, is ISIS' ultimate trophy, I can promise you that the pope would have only wished and prayed that Donald Trump would have been president. For a religious leader to question a person's faith is disgraceful.</s>KEILAR: What a difference an election makes. Joining me is Tara Palmeri, CNN political analyst and White House correspondent for "Politico." And also joining us on the phone, John Allen, CNN senior Vatican analyst ad editor of "The Boston Globe's" "The Crux" and also the author of "The Francis Miracle." Thanks to both of you for being here. There are reports that the pontiff left quite an impression on the president, and that the topics of terrorism, the Paris Accord, the environment came up. John, when the president clearly said to the pontiff that what he had said made a big impact on him, what do you think that could have been?</s>JOHN ALLEN, CNN SENIOR VATICAN ANALYST (voice-over): Well, I think actually from President Trump's point of view, this meeting probably went about as well as he could have envisioned. Frankly, if he had scribbled out the outcome on a cocktail napkin with a pen, which would be in character for this president, I don't think you could have envisioned a better outcome. First of all, the chemistry between the two men, particularly towards the end of the meeting, was obviously quite warm. Secondly, if you look at the statements that the Vatican put out afterwards, there was a deliberate effort to play down issues of contention and to play up the issues where Pope Francis and President Trump might be able to find common ground. The statement led with the joint commitment of the defense of human life, which is, of course, Vatican speak for the fight against abortion, religious freedom and freedom of conscience. There was recently an executive order put out on religion freedom. Despite the obvious differences between Francis and Trump, their differences on immigration, climate change, poverty relief, war and peace, and so on, that in this meeting, they wanted the climate to be upbeat and the focus on where they could agree.</s>KEILAR: Tara, I want to ask you a question about protocol because it's so important on these visits. And to that point, the issues of veils is something that many observers were wondering about, is Melania, the first lady, going to wear a veil in Saudi Arabia. She did not. Some have said her outfit evoked, even though she didn't wear a veil. But she did at the Vatican, and so did Ivanka Trump. What did you think about the choices on protocol there?</s>TARA PALMERI, CNN POLITICAL ANAYST: I think the difference is that the pope requested that they wear a veil. This is standard for anyone who is visiting the pope. And whereas in Saudi Arabia, they didn't actually make that request that they wear veils. It's not illegal for foreign women to veils. So I think the difference is the request and symbolism of it and its respect for the pope and it doesn't have a broader implication.</s>KEILAR: Tell us, John, about the gifts that they gave to each other. This is significant and a lot of thought behind them.</s>ALLEN: Yes. If should be said, every time a head of state comes to the Vatican, he or she presents gifts to the pope and the pope does likewise. This is hardly something that is unique to the president of the United States. But President Trump presented Pope Francis with a collection of the writings of Martin Luther King Jr, which is a carefully thought-out move, because, if you remember when Pope Francis spoke to Congress last September, he lifted up four great Americans that he admired in a particular way, and one of them was Martin Luther King. So Trump has been well briefed about the likes of Pope Francis. Pope Francis gave the president a mini statue, a bronze medallion, coined by a Roman artist that was the depiction of an olive tree, which was described as a symbol of peace, saying that he wanted the president to be an agent of peace, he wanted him to be someone who would work for peace. And it's quite likely that, at the end of the meeting, when we overheard President Trump on the way out saying to Pope Francis that I will not forget what you said to me, that may well be part of what he had in mind.</s>KEILAR: Tara, I want to ask you about something. As we look at this opportunity, this photo opportunity, there's someone missing, and a lot of people are talking about how Sean Spicer, the very visible representative of the White House, who is an extremely devout Catholic, was not included. And we actually have some reporting by CNN that he felt left out by this, which you cannot blame him for. What happened?</s>PALMERI: I think what you're seeing is the disenchantment that President Trump has expressed to his aides with Sean Spicer. My sources have told me that he suggested that he feels that some of the newcomers that came on with the RNC, Reince Priebus, they are not as loyal to him as Keith Schiller, who had a chance to go and visit the pope. He's a bodyguard. He's been around since the beginning of the campaign. And Dan Slaven, who has worked for the president for 18 years. White House officials are saying that you may not see Sean Spicer again at the podium after this trip, so it would make sense that the president would start limiting his appearances. And these people are very close to Trump. They are literally family. He really values loyalty and blood. And there is something to it. As a reporter, when I make a phone call to the press office and it's about Reince Priebus, I get a quicker response than I do when it's about the president. There's a sort of loyalty towards him because he was the one who brought them into the White House and Trump wants to know that the loyalty is to him, first and foremost.</s>KEILAR: Very good point. Tara Palmeri, in Brussels; and John Allen, thank you to both of you.</s>ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news. I'm Brianna Keilar. We're beginning this hour with our breaking news. The brother of the Manchester concert bomber has just been arrested, accused of planning a separate terror attack in the Libyan capitol of Tripoli. Back in the U.K., five people are now in custody in connection with the bombing as police there now say --