In the backdrop of Pope Francis’ funeral Saturday, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and President Donald Trump engaged in iconic peace talks at the Vatican, former Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa., marveled on Newsmax.
“I think it speaks well to both of them,” Santorum told special coverage co-hosts Bianca de la Garza and Ed Henry on Saturday. “I know they don’t have the best relationship, but it speaks well to both of them that they would take the time, I think obviously moved by this moment, even though neither of them are Catholic.”
The death of the Pope and the war deaths in Ukraine, which Trump has repeatedly hoped to end, have the world leaders realize current struggles are just a “blip” in the timeline of humanity.
“The trappings of Rome and the beauty and the overwhelming sense of the history of Christ’s presence and all of the … you think about the importance of the time, and then you go into a place that’s been there for over a thousand years and recognize that you’re just a little blip in this long line, and that there have been conflicts before,” Santorum said.
“These types of big things now in the course of time are not that big, and you have an obligation to sort of keep the timeline going, if you will.”
The pictures of Trump and Zelenskyy talking at the Vatican moved Santorum, too.
“The idea of sitting there on holy ground during a very sacred time can’t help but influence you and drive you to find a path,” he said. “And I think maybe that’s what we saw here today. And it’s a beautiful thing to see.”
Santorum noted he attended the “funeral of John Paul II some 20 years ago,” but he said Saturday’s Pope Francis ceremony shows that the power of faith endures the tests of time and change.
“I know that the amazing feeling that’s there,” Santorum said, “just get the enormity of the church, the Catholic church, the universal church, and as much as people talk about the decline of the church and the lack of faith in so many younger people.
“You see younger people, you see that the church is very much alive and that the passion is still there, and it gives you hope.”
It takes “strong leadership” in the world and religion, according to Santorum.
“Look, there’s a hole in every heart for God, and some people find it, some people don’t, but it’s there,” he said. “And the church, I think, feels an obligation. I think these cardinals who are meeting were going to feel an obligation to do what they can to provide some strong leadership in a world that is in desperate need of it.
“And so this is a moment where the where the world is watching the Catholic Church, and it’s going to incumbent upon these cardinals to rise to that moment and bring someone out to the world that’s going to provide some real leadership.”
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