Donald Trump has revealed why he attended the funeral of Pope Francis. Ahead of his arrival to the Vatican on Friday, the US President was asked why he thought it was important for him to attend the historic service held in St Peter's Square.

He told a Fox News journalist: "I just thought it was out of respect, I won the Catholic vote and I think that's the first time that ever happened for a Republican and I won that by a lot. I have a great relationship to the Catholics, very simple. But I won the Catholic vote, I got 56% of the vote, I don't know why we didn't get more actually, I don't know how they got any.”

He added: “But we did well with the Catholic vote and my relationship is very good and so I think it's appropriate."

The US President was one of dozens of world leaders to attend the service in Rome on Saturday, alongside Keir Starmer, Emmanuel Macron and Volodymyr Zelensky.

Trump held a meeting with the Ukrainian President in the margins of the service which were described as “productive”.

Photographs released by the Ukrainians show the two huddled in conversation without aides in St Peter’s Basilica.

It was their first face to face meeting since the infamous Oval Office clash which ended in Zelensky being asked to leave the White House.

The US is currently pressuring Kyiv to accept the terms of a peace deal which would require Ukraine to cede large parts of territory lost since 2014, including Crimea and parts of the Donbas.

After landing in Rome yesterday, Trump posted on Truth Social: “A good day in talks and meetings with Russia and Ukraine.

“They are very close to a deal, and the two sides should now meet, at very high levels, to ‘finish it off,’”

Before leaving Kyiv for the service, Zelensky told reporters: “In the coming days, very significant meetings may take place — meetings that should bring us closer to silence for Ukraine.

“We are ready for dialogue, I emphasize again, in any format with anyone, but “only after a real signal that Russia is ready to end the war. Such a signal is a complete and unconditional ceasefire.”