WASHINGTON (OSV News) — President Donald Trump, first lady Melania Trump, a bipartisan congressional delegation, and former President Joe Biden are among the U.S. officials traveling to Rome for Pope Francis’ funeral.
The same week in Washington, Attorney General Pam Bondi convened a task force April 22 to combat “anti-Christian bias,” and polls showed a majority of Americans now disapprove of Trump’s handling of immigration.
Trump, Biden, members of Congress to attend Pope Francis’ funeral
The Trumps departed the White House en route to Rome the morning of April 25. Biden and former first lady Jill Biden are also expected to attend. Among the last acts of his presidency, Biden, the nation’s second Catholic president, awarded Pope Francis the Presidential Medal of Freedom with Distinction, the nation’s highest civilian honor.
Bipartisan groups from both the U.S. House and Senate will also represent their respective chambers at the funeral. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, said she would lead a Congressional Member Delegation, known as a CODEL, to the funeral that will also include Sens. Richard Durbin, D-Ill.; Mike Rounds, R-S.D.; Ed Markey, D-Mass.; and Eric Schmitt, R-Mo. Each of those senators is Catholic.

“It is a tremendous honor to be selected to lead this bipartisan delegation of United States Senators to Rome to attend the funeral of Pope Francis and pay our respects to his life and legacy,” Collins said in a statement. “Pope Francis’s profound commitment to celebrate the Risen Lord, even on the day before his death, and share God’s grace with people from all walks of life inspired believers around the world. He truly embodied God’s boundless love for us all. It is an incredible blessing to have the opportunity to represent the Senate and honor the life of Pope Francis with my colleagues.”
For the House, Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said he asked Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., to lead that chamber’s bipartisan congressional delegation, citing his position as the House’s highest-ranking Catholic.
“Our prayers are with the many Christians who mourn the passing of Pope Francis,” Johnson said in a statement.
Scalise said in a statement he was “honored” to do so, adding, “The Holy Father humbly devoted his life in service to the Church, and he was dedicated to spreading the Gospel of the Lord to the world.”
“As a lifelong Catholic, I am honored to represent the House in paying our respects and praying for the soul of Pope Francis, as Catholics all around the world grieve, and as Church leaders prepare to elect a new pope in the coming weeks,” he said.
A bipartisan coalition of Catholic lawmakers will also join Scalise, including House Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., as well as Reps. French Hill, R-Ark.; Brendan Boyle, D-Pa.; Ann Wagner, R-Mo.; Tom Suozzi, D-N.Y.; John Joyce, R-Pa.; Pete Stauber, R-Minn.; Scott Fitzgerald, R-Wis.; and Laura Gillen, D-N.Y.
“His Holiness Pope Francis personified our sacred responsibility in the Gospel of Matthew to honor the spark of divinity in the least of our brethren championing the poor, the worker, the refugee and the immigrant,” Pelosi said in a statement about her participation in the delegation.
“Pope Francis was a beacon of charity, hope and love for all people of faith and he rekindled the faith of Catholics worldwide, with a triumphant message of peace that has inspired a generation,” she said. “It is my honor to be a part of the Congressional delegation attending the funeral of His Holiness to help convey the thoughts, prayers and deep sympathies of the American people on his passing.”
Bondi Targets ‘Anti-Christian bias’
Bondi hosted members of Trump’s Cabinet April 22 at the Department of Justice for the inaugural meeting of the Task Force to Eradicate Anti-Christian Bias in the federal government.
Trump has long taken aim at some Biden administration policies he argued “weaponized” the Department of Justice, including Trump’s own prosecution on charges related to his alleged conduct surrounding the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol, among other alleged misconduct.

Among his first actions in office, Trump issued pardons for 23 pro-life activists he said were improperly prosecuted by the Biden administration under the Federal Access to Clinic Entrances Act. The FACE Act prohibits actions including obstructing the entrance to an abortion clinic. When he announced the task force at the National Prayer Breakfast in February, Trump cited those convictions as examples of such bias.
In comments at the meeting, Bondi alleged the Biden administration “abused and targeted peaceful Christians while ignoring violent, anti-Christian offenses.”
Rachel Laser, president and CEO of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, argued in a statement that the task force “is not a response to Christian persecution; it’s an attempt to make America into an ultra-conservative Christian nationalist nation.”
Polls show public perception of Trump’s immigration policy souring
Multiple polls on April 25 found that public perception of Trump’s hardline immigration policy may be souring.
A Washington Post-ABC News-Ipsos poll found a majority of Americans, 53 percent, said they disapprove of Trump’s handling of immigration, while 46% said they approve. That represents a drop in his approval rating on the issue from February when half of respondents said they approve of his approach to the issue.
Similarly, a survey from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research also found 53 percent of U.S. adults disapprove of his handling of the issue while 46% approve.
However, that survey found 48% said Trump has “gone too far” when it comes to deporting immigrants living in the U.S. illegally; in contrast, 32% said his approach has been “about right” while 18% said he has not gone far enough.
Catholic social teaching on immigration seeks to balance three interrelated principles the right of persons to migrate in order to sustain their lives and those of their families, the right of a country to regulate its borders and immigration, and a nation’s duty to do so with justice and mercy.
Durbin declines re-election
Durbin, the Senate’s No. 2 Democrat, announced April 23 he would not seek another term in the U.S. Senate, creating a rare vacancy for an Illinois Senate seat and sparking what will be a competitive primary.
“The decision of whether to run for re-election has not been easy. I truly love the job of being a United States Senator,” he said in a post on X. “But in my heart, I know it’s time to pass the torch.”
A Catholic, Durbin, 80, at times took policy positions that alternately appeared consistent with or in contrast to church teaching. For instance, he supported efforts to expand legal abortion while seeking to end the use of the federal death penalty.
USCIRF offers condolences for death of Pope Francis
The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, an independent, bipartisan U.S. federal government commission that monitors religious freedom around the globe, offered its “condolences to the Catholic community worldwide” in a statement mourning the death of Pope Francis.
“We join the world in remembering Pope Francis’s remarkable legacy of mercy and compassion,” USCIRF Chair Stephen Schneck said in a statement. “Amid his deep and abiding commitment to standing for the most vulnerable among us, he also made significant contributions to advancing the cause of international religious freedom. We are deeply grateful for his work advocating for greater inclusion and non-discrimination for vulnerable religious minorities, and for the rights of millions of people displaced by religious violence and genocide during his time as pontiff.
“As he declared in his final Easter message, just this week: ‘There can be no peace without freedom of religion, freedom of thought, freedom of expression and respect for the views of others.'”
Read More World News
Copyright © 2025 OSV News