On Monday, the world learned that the head of the Roman Catholic Church, Pope Francis, had died at age 88.
On that same day, Republican President Donald Trump shared he'd be going go the social event of the year. Or at least his announcement made it seem so.
On Truth Social, Trump posted.
"Melania and I will be going to the funeral of Pope Francis, in Rome. We look forward to being there!"
@realDonaldTrump/Truth Social
For once, the capitalization was only in appropriate places, everything was spelled correctly, and the grammar was impeccable, although the message was somewhat ghoulish.
Leading many to think Trump didn't write the Truth Social post—someone else in his administration did.
The funeral will be Trump's first foreign trip of his second presidential administration.
Regardless of the post's author, people were disturbed by the enthusiasm for seeing an 88-year-old man lying in state followed by the thrill of his funeral.
@artcandee/Bluesky
The pontiff served for 12 years—from 2013–2025—and recorded many firsts for a pope.
Pope Francis—named Jorge Mario Bergoglio before taking Holy Orders—was the first Jesuit, the first Latin American, the first from the Americas, the first from the Southern Hemisphere, and the first pope born or raised outside of Europe since the 8th-century.
@_branmaraj/Twitter (
@badbusterboy/X
@Kanieh57/X