After she met with Pope Francis at the Vatican on Wednesday, first lady Melania Trump confirmed a little-known fact about her faith: She is Catholic. And she described the visit with the leader of the Catholic Church as “one I’ll never forget.”
The church’s rector performed a traditional Episcopal wedding service, according to the Palm Beach Daily News. “The bride walked down the aisle carrying only an ancient rosary, not to Lohengrin or Wagner, but to a vocalist singing Ave Maria in an exquisite soprano voice,” the local newspaper reported.
Her spokeswoman Stephanie Grisham confirmed in an email that Melania Trump identifies as Catholic, but Grisham did not respond to questions about if and when the first lady was baptized, whether she attends Mass regularly at a specific parish and whether the first family are current members of a church. The first lady, who became a U.S. citizen in 2006, grew up in what is today Slovenia, which has been heavily influenced by Catholicism.
During their visit to the Vatican on Wednesday, the pope blessed the first lady’s rosary beads, and the two had a lighthearted conversation about what she feeds her husband. She spent time in front of a statue of the Madonna at the Vatican’s children’s hospital and laid flowers at its feet.
Today's visit with His Holiness Pope Francis @Pontifex is one I'll never forget. I was humbled by the honor. Blessings to all. pic.twitter.com/NiomkFQqJb
— Melania Trump 45 Archived (@FLOTUS45) May 24, 2017
She prayed at the chapel of the Vatican-owned Bambino Gesù pediatric hospital during her visit and tweeted about a boy who will receive a heart transplant by including the hashtags #Blessings and #Faith.
A little boy who I visited today & had been waiting for a heart transplant will be receiving one! #Blessings #Faith pic.twitter.com/DZU3ojxXVC
— Melania Trump 45 Archived (@FLOTUS45) May 24, 2017
She noted her visit in Israel to the Western Wall and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the site that commemorates Jesus’s death and tomb.
Today's visits to The Church of the Holy Sepulchre & Western Wall w my husband @POTUS were very meaningful for me. Blessings to all. pic.twitter.com/KU1SpxBKcJ
— Melania Trump 45 Archived (@FLOTUS45) May 22, 2017
The first lady opened the president’s February rally in Florida by reciting the Lord’s Prayer.
Her fashion choices have invoked comparisons to former first lady Jacqueline Kennedy, who was famously Catholic during a time when many Americans were suspicious of Catholics because they were worried that the pope would influence U.S. politics. Like first ladies before her, Melania Trump wore a black dress and veil to meet the pope.
Melania and Barron Trump have been living in Manhattan while he finishes his school year on the Upper West Side. After they move to the White House this summer, he will attend St. Andrew’s Episcopal, a prep school in Potomac, Md., where just 16 percent of its students are Episcopalian. Eighteen percent are Roman Catholic, 23 percent are other Christian denominations, and 10 percent are Jewish.
During the Vatican visit, President Trump was also accompanied by his daughter Ivanka Trump, who converted to Orthodox Judaism. Ivanka Trump attended Georgetown University, the oldest Catholic university in the country, before finishing her degree at the University of Pennsylvania. Her brother Eric Trump graduated from Georgetown. At the Vatican, the Trumps were not accompanied by his spokesman Sean Spicer or senior counselor Kellyanne Conway, both of whom are Catholic.
Exit polls showed Catholics voted for Trump 52 to 45 percent in the 2016 election, and a recent survey from the Pew Research Center found that white Catholics and white evangelicals who attend religious services regularly have a higher approval rating of Trump than those who don’t attend services regularly.
There are about 51 million Catholic adults in the country, according to Pew, and they make up about 20 percent of the U.S. population.
Editor’s note: This piece has been updated to include what the Post asked the first lady’s spokeswoman.