Meanwhile, the president has signed an executive order created to ease a ban on political activity by churches.
US President Donald Trump said on Thursday (May 4) he will travel to Saudi Arabia and Israel this month as part of his first foreign trip, wading directly into the tangled diplomacy of Middle Eastern politics.
Trump is also planning to attend the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation meeting in Brussels and the G-7 summit in Sicily.
He will begin his first presidential overseas trip with "a truly historic gathering in Saudi Arabia with leaders from all across the Muslim world", he said.
The formal announcement of the visit said Trump would meet with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas during the trip but did not say where he would meet him.
In addition to high-stakes meetings at the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation and G7 summits in Europe later this month, he'll meet the Pope at the Vatican and travel to Saudi Arabia and Israel.
Trump, in turn, called Francis "a wonderful guy" and blamed the media for the squabble. "We pray for peace", said the US President.
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While he publicly sparred with Pope Francis during the election cycle, Trump has since said it would be "an honor" to meet with the Holy Father.
Riyadh and Washington had a testier relationship under former Democratic President Barack Obama's administration, which Saudi Arabia felt placed less importance on the Saudi-U.S. relationship than on securing a nuclear deal with Iran.
The president will arrive in Rome after visiting the Middle East in an attempt to highlight his promises to defeat the self-fashioned Islamic State and bring peace between Israel and the Palestinians.
Trump has also accepted the invitation of President Reuven Rivlin and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to visit Israel, where he will further strengthen the United States- Israel partnership, he said.
Jubeir also said the Trump administration had taken steps to advance the sale of precision-guided munitions, which had been suspended by the previous usa administration over concerns about civilian casualties in the conflict in Yemen.
The trip itinerary breaks a tradition going back to Ronald Reagan for USA presidents to make their first foreign visit to a neighboring country, either Canada or Mexico. Trump and the Pope will have some fences to mend: During the campaign, Trump sharply criticized Francis after the leader of the Catholic Church noted that building walls is not a Christian virtue, calling the pope's comments "disgraceful".
A rolling presidential waiver on a congressional mandate to move the embassy, renewed a year ago by Barack Obama and every US President since 1995, will once again expire on June 1. The delegation also toured the Western Wall, the Masada ruins in the Negev Desert, and the Allenby border crossing with Jordan as possible stops during Trump's visit.
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