At the time, some White House watchers speculated that Trump purposely left out his press secretary, who was on shaky ground. And many commentators said they felt bad for Spicer, who attends Mass regularly and would have been deeply moved to meet the pope.
On Sunday, Spicer got his chance.
Official Vatican photographs show that he was one of dozens of people involved in governments around the world whom Francis personally greeted at the International Catholic Legislators Network meeting, as America magazine reported.
Spicer, who did not respond to a message seeking comment about his latest Vatican visit, resigned his position as press secretary two months after the trip with Trump. He quit in protest of Trump’s appointment of Anthony Scaramucci as communications director; Scaramucci remained in that job for just 10 days.
Want more stories about faith? Follow Acts of Faith on Twitter or sign up for our newsletter.