Pondering Pope Francis: Would he forgive Trump and Vance for their sins?

Pope Francis receives U.S. Vice President JD Vance, left, before bestowing the Urbi et Orbi (Latin for to the city and to the world) blessing at the end of the Easter mass presided over by Cardinal Angelo Comastri in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican Sunday, April 20, 2025. At center the head of the papal houshold Bishop Leonardo Sapienza. (Vatican Media via AP, HO)

We are still mourning the passing of diversity’s pope, Francis nee Jorge Mario Bergoglio, the son of Italian immigrants to Argentina. The first pope from Latin America in nearly 1,300 years.

And already some are wondering if the diversity will extend post-Francis, to Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle of the Philippines.

FILE – Filipino Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, left, shows Pope Francis how to give the popular hand sign for “I love you” at the Mall of Asia arena in Manila, Philippines, Friday, Jan. 16, 2015. (AP Photo/Wally Santana, File)

A Filipino pope! There’s hope.

But that discussion of Tagle, the man called “The Asian Francis” shall wait for another day.

On Easter Monday, we are still recovering from the gut punch of Francis’ passing.

We go from Good Friday to Easter Sunday to Oh My God, Monday.

My pope?

To me, Francis was the inclusive pope. The forgiving pope.

I would like to think, he’d forgive me.

I confess. I  am a bad Catholic. But a principled bad Catholic.

I don’t like how the church is run.

In the last 20 years, more than $5 billion had to be spent on allegations of sexual abuse by minors, according to a January 2025 report released by the Center for the Applied Research in the Apostolate at Georgetown.

These are just the cases in the US. And it only goes back to 2000. It doesn’t include all the scandals prior. The report represents just a fraction of the problem.

I was never violated by a priest, but any violation – and there were more than 16,000 cases deemed credible by the report in the US alone during this period – is a violation toward all 1.4 billion Catholics worldwide.

Francis tried to make changes. He shut down the Peruvian-based Sodalititium Christianae Vitae becuase of a culture of sexual and psychological abuse of its members. In the US. he defrocked and laicized the convicted Cardinal Theodore McCarrick.

But no matter what Francis did, any reforms to undo the sins of the Catholic pedophiles and abusers were never enough. Not to stop the abuse completely.

Would the protestant way – allowing priests to marry – be a solution?  Possibly, but not for Catholicism.

On other fronts, Francis did seek greater acceptance for LGBTQ Catholics, authorizing blessings for same-sex couples, and allowing transgender people to be baptized and become godparents. But once again, did Francis go far enough?

Francis urged that women have a greater role in the church – but stopped well short of the priesthood. Too bad. Parishes with female administrators have been among the best church communities I have been a part of. At least one woman I know left the church and is now a practicing Episcopal minister, a holy mother.

I suppose in such a strict church culture bound by tradition, little moves are much bigger than they appear.

But it never seemed to be significant enough, at least to solve the problems of today’s church. And never enough to convince me the church had a monopoly on spirituality. There are ways to be spiritual absent the dogma of Catholicism.

Yet, as I fail to reconcile the ways of the church and my own faith, I know how deeply Catholicism is rooted in my Filipino-ness. And I know that the Holy Father, if I were fortunate to be in his presence, would have seen and heard me.

And maybe allowed for my confession.

If that happened, I just know, I’d happily rejoin the flock.

The vice president meets the pontiff 

I doubt JD Vance, as the last US political leader to pay the pope a visit, asked for a confession.

Carrying water for Donald Trump needs more than a confession.

Besides, I don’t know if a single human like that could say enough Hail Marys in a lifetime.

Vance, who converted to Catholicism, did receive a tie and some Easter candies from the Pope during their Holy Week meeting, according to reports.

But if Vance wanted to earn his Catholic stripes, and make news, he could have repented for all the Trump administration has done.

Can you hear him say, “Bless me father for I have sinned, let me count the ways…”

How about maliciously striking fear in the hearts of all immigrants and migrants, assumed by ICE to be criminals who don’t belong. Francis was pro-immigrant, pro-sanctuary, anti-ICE.  He was everything Trump and Vance promote on immigration.

Vance could have asked for prayers from the pope, who has also urged for peace between Ukraine and Russia. Vance? He feels it may be time to move on and abandon Ukraine to Russia.

Vance could have asked for forgiveness for what the Trump administration is doing favoring tax cuts to billionaires instead of making a difference in the lives of the poor and working class. Francis was all about “the first will be last, the last will be first.”

Trump and Vance are all about “We win, you lose.”

Vance could have sought forgiveness for his public acts.  But he didn’t. He’s loyal to one man. And it’s not a pope. It’s his president, the guy who thinks “How Great Thou Art” is a hymn about him!

Trump was in Washington at the new and grifty “East Egg Roll,” with corporate sponsors for the first time. An Easter egg event is already secular, but to corporatize it with a New York Stock Exchange “Ringing of the Bell” feature? It’s secular and vulgar, the opposite of holy.

And maybe that’s why the president of the United States could only come up with two lines on his social media post.

“Rest in Peace Pope Francis! May God Bless him and all who loved him!”

Better than “thoughts and prayers.” It’s genial, but inauthentic. Like it was written by AI.

Francis’ gift to us is letting us see Trump and Vance address the pope. It’s so revealing.

Compared to a holy man, Trump and Vance are soiled and disgraceful. Trump is after all, the man I call “Convicted Felon, Donald Trump, 34,” as in counts of fraud.

And yet, you know, Francis would forgive them. Trump and Vance.

That’s what a pope does.

He just wouldn’t have voted for them.

If he could. I am almost sure of that.

Emil Guillermo is an award-winning journalist, news analyst and stage monologuist. He writes for the Inquirer.net’s US Channel. He has written a weekly “Amok” column on Asian American issues since 1995. Find him on YouTube, patreon and substack.