The diplomatic spat between the new Pope Leo and U.S. President Donald Trump has captured the imagination of Romans and visitors alike. In Borgo Pio, a neighbourhood bordering the Vatican, shopkeeper Walter Colantini — who once fitted glasses for a pontiff — gestured toward photos of five popes on his wall and recalled tensions dating back to the 1991 Gulf War. While some American visitors back their president, the consensus among Vatican-adjacent locals and tourists appears firmly on the pontiff’s side. “A pope who uses his brain,” as The Guardian headline put it, has become a rallying phrase in the Eternal City.
Walter Murrow
April 14, 2026
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