Pope asks Trump to be peacemaker, gives him environmental letter

US President Donald Trump met Pope Francis at the Vatican on Wednesday during the first face-to-face meeting of the two leaders, who symbolise starkly different views of the world.

Trump arrived for a short private audience at the Apostolic Palace along with his wife Melania, daughter Ivanka and son-in-law Jared Kushner.

The US President was greeted warmly by Francis before they sat down for the private meeting at which only a translator was present. Trump could be heard saying it was "an honour" to be there during the meeting. At one point, the Pope jokingly asked Melania, "what she fed her husband", the Guardian reported.

The seemingly genial meeting offered no hint of the rocky start to the pair's relationship last year, when the Argentinian pontiff questioned then-candidate Trump's Christian credentials, the report said. US Secretary of State Rex W Tillerson and National Security Adviser H R McMaster were among Trump's delegation to the Vatican.

After Trump's private meeting with the Pope, Melania and others were invited to join the pair in the papal library.

Melania and Ivanka wore black dresses and veils, traditional Vatican attire for women, considered respectful, though not mandatory. Trump and the Pope have diametrically opposite views on issues as varied as immigration, climate change and arms sales. Trump will later meet Italian President Sergio Mattarella and Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni. He will then fly to Brussels for a NATO summit.

US President Donald Trump's first budget includes draconian cuts of $3.6 trillion over 10 years in social assistance and medical coverage programmes for lower-income citizens, moves aimed at eliminating the deficit. Presented on Tuesday, the proposal's main entitlement programmes affected by Trump's plan is Medicaid, which provides healthcare coverage to low-income citizens and which will see its funding reduced by $610 billion under the proposal, Efe news reported. The budget plan for Fiscal Year 2018, entitled "A New Foundation for American Greatness" and which promises to eliminate the budget deficit — predicted to be 3.1 per cent of GDP at year-end — over a decade, nevertheless provides for increases in defense and border security spending.