Yet in announcing his first foreign trip itinerary Thursday, which includes stops in Saudi Arabia and Israel, Trump said he chose Saudi Arabia as his first stop precisely because it's the home of two of the holiest sites in Islam.
From Israel, Trump will head to Italy to meet with Pope Francis and Italian President Mattarella, followed by a North Atlantic Treaty Organisation summit in Brussels and then back to Italy for a G7 meeting in Sicily.
There, Trump will meet with leaders from across in the Gulf and broader Middle East in the hope of curbing militant groups and Iran's growing regional influence.
The President also met Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas at the White House on Wednesday, but gave no details of how he would revive long-stalled peace talks.
On Tuesday, Vice President Mike Pence told celebrators at a commemoration for Israeli Independence Day at the White House that "as we speak", Trump "is giving serious consideration to moving the American embassy in Tel Aviv to Jerusalem". Leaders of the Muslim world will convene to meet with Trump, who warmed to Middle Eastern diplomacy after successful visits from King Abdullah of Jordan and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al Sissi.
Trump will also visit Rome to meet Pope Francis, completing a tour of the centers of the three major monotheistic religions in what aides said was an effort to seek unity against common enemies.
This is published unedited from the IANS feed.
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Mr Trump has sent what he calls a "powerful armada" led by the USS Carl Vinson to the waters off the Korean Peninsula, where it has been carrying out exercises with South Korea's navy.
He has also suggested he will pay reciprocal visits to the United Kingdom and Japan, whose leaders visited the White House during Trump's first month in office.
The trip has been coordinated by the White House, in cooperation with the National Security Council and the State Department, another official said.
In Saudi Arabia, Trump will discuss with Saudi leaders efforts to defeat terrorism and discredit radical ideologies, the officials said. During Trump's campaign for president, the pontiff criticized the Republican candidate's plan to build a wall along the U.S. -Mexico border.
His meeting with the pope could get very interesting: The two go way back.
Since Ronald Reagan visited Mexico during his transition and Canada as his first foreign stop in office, each successive president has chosen one of those two countries as the kickoff for global travel.
Trump's visit to Rome will mark the first time he and Pope Francis have spoken. Those concerns were compounded when one of Trump's first executive orders was to ban travel from seven Muslim-majority countries - a ban that federal courts have stayed in part because it may have targeted Muslims in violation of the constitutional prohibition on religious preferences.
The President is set to visit the Vatican, Israel and Saudi Arabia this month, as part of his maiden worldwide trip.
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