Featured Image Credit: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images
Topics: Donald Trump, Politics, Pope Francis, Fashion
Mia Williams
Topics: Donald Trump, Politics, Pope Francis, Fashion
People have defended Donald Trump after a cropped image painted the president in a bad light, as some accused him of breaking the dress code at the pope's funeral.
The president was one of many world leaders who attended the funeral of Pope Francis on Saturday (26 April), alongside Volodymyr Zelenskyy, French president Emmanuel Macron, the future King of England Prince William, and UK prime minister Keir Starmer.
But many called Trump out for not following the dress code at the special occasion, after the 78-year-old turned up in a blue suit.
After it was announced that the Pope had died on Easter Monday (20 April), Trump posted a bizarre claim on X.
Advert
He said: "Melania and I will be going to the funeral of Pope Francis, in Rome.
"We look forward to being there!"
The strange wording was the first of many things in the run-up to the funeral that landed the president in hot water, but it seems that claims made about the dress code were actually unfounded.
The official dress code to his holiness' funeral in St Peter’s Square, Vatican City, required men to wear a dark suit with a black tie and a black button on the left lapel.
Trump wore a blue suit to the ceremony, as his wife Melania - a practicing Roman Catholic - wore a black dress and a black veil.
Zelenskyy did not wear a suit for the occasion, as he continues to wear his black military attire, which he has been consistent with since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
But it seems users online were wrong to call the president out for wearing a blue suit, as many other world leaders sported the same colour.
A picture of people at the ceremony had been cropped to show just Trump wearing the alternative suit, but Prince William was among those who did not wear black.
One user on X defended the republican leader, and said: "This is for all of the idiots complaining about President Trump wearing a blue suit to the Pope's funeral.
"Prince William, President Erogan, et al. They are literally grasping at straws."
Another added: "I just heard that ppl are 'outraged' that Trump wore a blue suit to the Pope’s funeral, so outraged they cropped out all the other people wearing a blue suit.
"I see at least 30 people in non-black attire."
In recent years, Pope Francis had not seen eye-to-eye with some of Trump's policies.
Before his first term in office, Trump had famously vowed to build a wall along the US-Mexico border.
Speaking to press at the time, Pope Francis said: “A person who thinks only about building walls, wherever they may be, and not building bridges, is not Christian. This is not in the Gospel."