Washington (CNN) Besieged by bad news at home, President Donald Trump is about to get religion, bigly. 
 
 In his first foreign trip as President, which begins Friday, Trump has planned a pilgrimage of sorts, visiting the homelands of all three Abrahamic faiths -- Judaism, Christianity and Islam -- before heading to Europe for meetings with Pope Francis and NATO leaders. 
 
 In all, it's an ambitious nine-day, five-country tour that will test the religious acumen and diplomatic skills of a President who, beyond courting conservative Christians and casting suspicion on Muslims, rarely talks about religion. 
 
 Trump's itinerary includes Saudi Arabia, the birthplace of Islam, where he aims to erase his Islamophobic image and urge Muslim leaders to address extremist ideologies. In the Holy Land, Trump wants to jumpstart the stalled peace negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians, while visiting touchstones like the Western Wall. And in Europe, the President seeks to repair frayed relations with two of the continent's most venerable institutions, the Vatican and NATO. 
 
 Gen. H.R. McMaster, Trump's national security adviser, called the President's plans unprecedented. "No President has ever visited the homelands and holy sites of the Jewish, Christian, and Muslims faiths all on one trip," he said at a press briefing last week. 
 
 Actually, other Presidents have visited Saudi Arabia and the Holy Land on the same trip. But no President has included the Vatican, Catholicism's holy headquarters, on the itinerary. 
 
 The White House says Trump has three main goals: to project American power abroad, build relationships with world leaders and "broadcast a message of unity" to Jews, Christians and Muslims. 
 
 "What President Trump is seeking is to unite peoples of all faiths around a common vision of peace, progress and prosperity," McMaster said. 
 
 Religious accord is a smart way for the White House to frame Trump's trip, said Chris Seiple, former president of the Institute for Global Engagement and an expert on faith and foreign policy. 
 
 "Most of the American people are utterly fed up with the Middle East, and this framework is a way to get their attention," Seiple said. 
 
 But some experts question whether Trump is the right messenger to preach about religious unity. 
 
 Trump was raised Christian, but as an adult he has rarely attended worship services, nor had he cultivated relationships with religious leaders before running for president. During the campaign, his remarks on religion were sometimes seen as uninformed and divisive. 
 
 He was accused of tweeting an anti-Semitic image and trafficking in anti-Jewish tropes; he said "Islam hates us" and pledged to temporarily bar Muslims from the United States; he even feuded with Pope Francis, who said that someone who talks only about building walls instead of bridges isn't Christian. Trump called the Pope's comments "disgraceful." 
 
 Concerns about Trump's views on religion have carried over into his administration. 
 
 He pleased his conservative Christian base with the nomination of Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court and an executive order promising greater legal latitude to pastors who want to preach about politics. But Jews complained for weeks about his reluctance to condemn dozens of bomb threats at Jewish community centers, and Muslims say his executive order halting immigration from several Muslim-majority nations discriminates against their religion. 
 
 "Up until now, Trump's message on Islam has been very confrontational, a clash-of-civilizations type narrative," said Shadi Hamid, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and an expert on political Islam. "For him to talk about the great faiths unified in a common civilization would be quite different." 
 
 Posing for photos with the Pope and praying at the site of Jesus' tomb may alter aspects of Trump's image, but the his pilgrimage bears considerable risks, especially for someone with a tendency to improvise in delicate diplomatic situations. 
 
 "If he takes advantage of this trip to bring people together, that would be good," said Seiple. "On the other hand, the whole thing could blow up in our face." 
 
 With those challenges in mind, here are the key religious events during Trump's trip. 
 
 Saudi Arabia 
 
 Where: Riyadh 
 
 When: May 20-21 
 
 Key religious event: Speech to leaders of 50 Muslim countries 
 
 McMaster said Trump plans to deliver an "inspiring yet direct" speech to leaders from Muslim countries on Sunday. The topic is the "need to confront radical ideology" and the "President's hope for a peaceful vision of Islam to dominate across the world." 
 
 "The speech is intended to unite the broader Muslim world against common enemies of all civilization and to demonstrate our commitment to our Muslim partners." 
 
 The President is fairly popular among Muslim heads of state, experts say, because of his hardline stance on Iran and reluctance to lecture Middle East dictators on human rights. 
 
 But Trump's speech risks alienating or even insulting many Muslims who are weary of Western politicians conflating their faith with terrorism. 
 
 Elliott Abrams, who supervised President George W. Bush's Middle East policy, said Trump will have to navigate between "very dangerous portals." 
 
 "If he says nothing about Islamic extremism, then supporters at home will say he bit his tongue; if he says too much about it, he could conceivably offend some of those who are there." 
 
 Early signs about the speech are not encouraging, experts said, especially after CNN reported that Stephen Miller, a White House aide known for peddling Islamophobic ideas , was drafting Trump's address. Miller also helped craft Trump's first executive order barring immigrants from several Muslim-majority countries. (A second order is being fought in the courts after the first version hit legal roadblocks.) 
 
 William McCants, director of the Brookings Institution's Project on US Relations with the Islamic World, offered Trump some advice for the speech. The first tip: cancel it. 
 
 "The President is not known for nuance, which is what a speech like this requires to escape the potential wrath of his multiple audiences," McCants said. 
 
 McCants and other experts on Islam also warned against projecting Saudi Arabia's strict theocracy as a model for "moderate Muslims." 
 
 While the country is the custodian of Islam's "two holy mosques," it has also spread a toxic theology, Salafism, that has inspired extremists like al Qaeda and ISIS. What's more, the country has a horrible human rights record, according to international watchdogs, particularly on religious freedom. 
 
 One safe proposal, according to foreign policy experts, is a regional roundtable on religious freedom, looking particularly at the plight of Christians in Muslim-majority countries. The Trump administration has been studying the idea , after meeting with members of the Institute for Global Engagement earlier this month. 
 
 Israel/West Bank 
 
 Where: Jerusalem and Bethlehem 
 
 When: May 22-23 
 
 Key religious events: Speech at Israel Museum, prayer at Western Wall, visit to Church of the Holy Sepulchre 
 
 In some ways, Trump is sending a message just by setting foot in Israel, Jewish leaders say. 
 
 President Obama, during his first Middle East trip, skipped the Jewish state, a slight that some Israelis were reluctant to forgive, said Robert Danin, a former State Department official and senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. 
 
 In Jerusalem, Trump will lay a wreath at Yad Vashem, a memorial to the Holocaust victims, before delivering a speech "reaffirming America's unshakable bond" with Israel at the Israel Museum, the White House says. 
 
 Danin said some Israeli leaders appear apprehensive about Trump's speech, mainly because they don't know what he's going to say. 
 
 "That uncertainty is very anxiety-provoking for the Israeli government because they fear that he is going to ask the Israelis to do things that this government may not want to do, may not be in a position to do." 
 
 Other Jewish leaders say they'll be looking for more than pacifying political rhetoric from Trump. 
 
 "We want to see if the President understands Israel's traumas, its security dilemmas and its unique importance in the region," said David Harris, CEO of the American Jewish Committee. "It's about chemistry and tonality and feelings. We want to know if he feels Israel in the kishkes," the Yiddish word for gut. 
 
 The Trump administration has already caused a diplomatic stir over the Western Wall, the last remnant of Judaism's Second Temple and its holiest place of prayer. 
 
 According to reports, an American diplomat said Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu could not accompany Trump to the holy site because it's not in Israel. Previous administrations have considered east Jerusalem, where the wall sits, to be Israeli-occupied territory, but Trump's position is unclear. Palestinians also claim Jerusalem as their capital. 
 
 McMaster dodged questions about Trump's stance on the wall, saying the President aims to send a religious, not political, message. 
 
 "He's going to the Western Wall mainly in connection with the theme: to connect with three of the world's great religions -- and to pay homage at each of these religious sites that he's visiting." 
 
 Earlier that day, Trump will travel to Bethlehem, where he will encourage Palestinian National Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to come to the negotiating table with Israel, the White House says. 
 
 Trump has eased the way for talks to restart, Middle East experts say, by delaying a campaign promise to move the US embassy to disputed Jerusalem, a change that would irk Palestinians and other Arabs. 
 
 But Trump will still have to address the embassy question, Abrams said. "If the President says nothing about it, then he is, in essence, moving away from the campaign promise." 
 
 One possible compromise: Trump could continue to call Jerusalem " the eternal capital of the Jewish people," while dragging his feet on the embassy move. 
 
 Rome 
 
 Where: Vatican City 
 
 When: May 24 
 
 Key religious moment: Meeting Pope Francis 
 
 When Trump visits the Vatican Wednesday, it will be the most highly anticipated meeting between Pope and President in recent memory. But those expecting a donnybrook will likely be disappointed, church experts say. Neither the President nor Pope Francis seem eager to replay their brief spat over Trump's border wall. 
 
 Asked about the upcoming meeting, Francis said he's keeping an open mind. 
 
 "I will say what I think, he will say what he thinks, but I never, ever, wanted to make a judgment without hearing the person," the Pope said at a recent press conference aboard the papal plane. 
 
 Francis also said he will not seek to change Trump's mind on policy disagreements. Instead, he'll try to find avenues of agreement. 
 
 "Look for the doors that are at least a little bit open, enter and talk about common things and go on. Step by step. Peace is handcrafted. It is made every day. Also friendship among people, mutual knowledge, esteem, is handcrafted." 
 
 Churchwatchers say the Vatican is eager to open lines of communication with the new American President, especially after their rocky start. 
 
 "At this point, there doesn't seem to be much common ground between the new President and the Pope," said John Thavis, author of "The Vatican Diaries" and a longtime reporter on the Catholic Church, "and that's probably pretty worrying for the Vatican." 
 
 McMaster said Trump looks forward to paying his respects to the Pope and discussing religious freedom, as well as cooperation in humanitarian missions and combating religious persecution and human trafficking. 
 
 Much of the meeting consists of elaborate protocol: the Swiss Guard will welcome Trump as a head of state, and the Pope and President will exchange gifts. The private meeting between Francis and Trump is expected to last just half an hour, as the Pope is scheduled to speak in St. Peter's Square shortly after the encounter. 
 
 Rep. Francis Rooney, US ambassador to the Vatican from 2005-2008, said the real diplomatic decisions often occur when the secretaries of state and other diplomats convene on the sidelines. One such meeting covered 16 countries, Rooney recalled, in which the Catholic Church and United States worked together on political and humanitarian missions. 
 
 "The Holy See doesn't have business to promote or consular activities to direct," Rooney said. "It's all about the big ideas and the power of persuasion." 
 
 For a President who likes to think big and make splashy deals, this trip offers plenty of opportunities, as well as a few potential pitfalls. ||||| President Trump will leave the U.S. for his first trip abroad as commander-in-chief on May 19, in a bid to boost his foreign policy agenda. 
 
 He will be accompanied by First Lady Melania Trump for the eight-day, five-country itinerary, which includes stops in the symbolic homes of three Abrahamic religions. Trump may be attempting to rebuild relations with countries like Israel and Saudi Arabia, which frayed under the Presidency of Barack Obama. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson will also accompany Trump for most of the trip. 
 
 Trump outlined his objectives for this trip, which comes as his Administration struggles with a series of controversies, as he addressed the U.S. Coast Guard Academy on Wednesday. 
 
 “I will strengthen old friendships and seek new partners, but partners who also help us, not partners who take, and take, and take,” Trump said in his commencement address. “Partners who help pay for whatever we are doing and all of the good that we doing for them. Which is something that a lot of people have not gotten used to, and they just can’t get used to it.” 
 
 Here’s his itinerary: 
 
 Saudi Arabia 
 
 Trump arrives in Saudi Arabia, the birthplace of Islam, on May 20. He will first meet King Salman in Riyadh for coffee, followed by a royal banquet, before holding bilateral talks with the King, the Crown Prince and Deputy Crown Prince. Trump will reportedly come bearing a $100 billion arms deal, and the leaders are likely to discuss issues such as Syria, Iran and the ongoing war in Yemen. 
 
 Before having dinner with the Saudi royal family, the President will take part in a signing ceremony on several agreements, which “will further solidify U.S.-Saudi security and economic cooperation” National Security Adviser H. R. McMaster told the press on May 16. 
 
 The next day, Trump will hold bilateral meetings with the Gulf Cooperation Council, which consists of six energy rich Middle Eastern countries. The President will have lunch with leaders from more than 50 Muslim countries— including Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, who is wanted for alleged war crimes— during a summit. Syria and Iran were not invited to the event as they are not part of a Saudi Arabian military alliance, that is being established to fight terrorism. There, Trump will give a speech about radical ideology and Islam, which is being drafted by White House aide Stephen Miller, Politico reports. 
 
 According to McMaster, Trump will finish-off his trip by inaugurating a new center to fight radicalism and will participate in a Twitter forum with young people. 
 
 Israel 
 
 Trump arrives in Israel on May 22 amid a handful of diplomatic misunderstandings, which includes Trump allegedly revealing classified intelligence to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov that is thought to have come from Israel, and McMaster declining to state that the Western Wall, one of the holiest sites in Judaism, is a part of Israel. 
 
 Trump is set to meet with Israeli President Reuven Rivlin in Jerusalem and lay a wreath at the World Holocaust Remembrance Center, Yad Vashem. He will then deliver remarks at the Israel Museum and reaffirm the U.S.’s “unshakable bond with our closest ally in the Middle East” McMaster said. Later that day, he will meet privately with Prime Minister Netanyahu and have dinner with Netanyahu and his wife. 
 
 The next day, Trump will spend time with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in Bethlehem, part of his effort to facilitate the end of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. In Jerusalem, Trump is set to say a prayer at the Western Wall, becoming the first sitting U.S. President to visit the contested territory. He will also visit the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. 
 
 Vatican City 
 
 Trump will meet Pope Francis at the Vatican on May 24. Both men hold opposing views on climate change and immigration. Speaking ahead of the visit on May 13, the Pontiff says he won’t try to persuade Trump to his views and he will try and find common ground with the President. 
 
 “I will tell him what I think, he will tell me what he thinks, but I never wanted to judge someone before I listen to the person first,” the Pope said, ABC News reports. According to reports, Trump is due to nominate Callista Gingrich, the wife of former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, for the post of U.S. ambassador to the Vatican. 
 
 Trump will also get a tour of St. Peter’s by the Cardinal Secretary of State and will meet Italy’s President Sergio Mattarella before departing Rome. 
 
 Belgium 
 
 The President will meet Belgium’s King Philippe and Prime Minister Charles Michel, as well as heads of state and government of the country on May 25. He will then head to the E.U. headquarters in Brussels to meet the E.U. and European Council presidents. Trump has previously said that the U.K. was doing the right thing by leaving the E.U. and that other countries would follow. 
 
 Trump will then have a working lunch with French President Emmanuel Macron. During the French presidential elections, Trump told Associated Press that he thought far-right leader Marine Le Pen would do well in the vote as she was “strongest on borders, and she’s the strongest on what’s been going on in France” he told AP. 
 
 Trump is then expected to reaffirm his commitment to NATO while unveiling the security bloc’s memorial, in front of a piece of the Berlin Wall and segment of the World Trade Center. Trump will also say that “for the good of the alliance, all members must share responsibility and share burdens” McMaster said. Secretary of Defense James Mattis will accompany Trump for a NATO meeting and dinner. 
 
 Italy 
 
 Trump will head to Italy for the final leg of his trip for a May 26-27 G7 meeting on the island of Sicily. The event will be attended by German President Angela Merkel, Macron, U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the leaders of Italy and Japan— who are keen to gain a clear understanding of Trump’s views on a range of issues, which include trade, terrorism and the refugee crisis. 
 
 The White House has however said that Trump will only make a decision as to whether he will pull the U.S. out of the Paris climate agreement on his return from Sicily. According to McMaster, Trump will “press America’s economic agenda and call for greater security cooperation” he said. 
 
 At the summit, Trump will attend a concert by the La Scala Philharmonic Orchestra and attend a leaders’ dinner. 
 
 Contact us at editors@time.com. ||||| President Donald Trump accompanied by Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos, left, calls on a member of the media during a news conference in the East Room of the White House, Thursday, May 18, 2017,... (Associated Press) 
 
 President Donald Trump accompanied by Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos, left, calls on a member of the media during a news conference in the East Room of the White House, Thursday, May 18, 2017, in Washington. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik) (Associated Press) 
 
 President Donald Trump accompanied by Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos, left, calls on a member of the media during a news conference in the East Room of the White House, Thursday, May 18, 2017, in Washington. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik) (Associated Press) President Donald Trump accompanied by Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos, left, calls on a member of the media during a news conference in the East Room of the White House, Thursday, May 18, 2017,... (Associated Press) 
 
 WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump's maiden international trip, a five-stop marathon across the Middle East and Europe, has long loomed as a crucial first test abroad for the chaos-courting president. 
 
 That was before he fired his FBI director — and the chain reaction of scandal that followed. 
 
 Now, with the eyes of the world upon him, the president will embark on his big trip carrying the baggage of dire troubles at home. As he tries to calm allies worried about his "America First" message, he'll be followed by fallout from his firing of FBI Director James Comey and the appointment of a special counsel to probe his campaign's ties with Russia. 
 
 "There has never been a president taking his first international trip being dogged by scandal like this," said Larry Sabato, head of the University of Virginia Center for Politics. "He's already a president viewed skeptically by much of the world. And while the pictures from the trip may be great, the White House can't change the headlines that will follow him wherever he goes." 
 
 Trump's trip was always going to be dramatic. U.S. allies have been rattled by his warnings about pulling back from the world. He is tasked with urging a united front against terror by appealing to some of the same corners of the Muslim world he has tried to keep out of the United States with his travel ban. Last week, he added new layers of complication by disclosing classified intelligence to a longtime adversary. 
 
 Still, the White House once hoped the trip, wrapped in the pomp and circumstance of diplomatic protocol, could offer a chance at a reset after a tumultuous first four months in office. Trump's advisers saw it as an opportunity for the United States to boldly reassert itself on the world stage and resume a leadership role that the administration believes was abdicated by President Barack Obama. Trump's powerful senior adviser, his son-in-law Jared Kushner, led a West Wing team to craft the agenda, laden with religious symbolism. 
 
 Still, Trump hasn't been eager to seize the opportunity. It's been more than a half-century since any president waited as long to take his first foreign trip. The itinerary, which begins Saturday in Saudi Arabia, is a startlingly ambitious excursion for a president who dislikes travel and has displayed a shaky grasp of foreign affairs. 
 
 Each stop comes with high stakes. 
 
 In Saudi Arabia, the president — whose campaign was marked by heated anti-Muslim rhetoric and whose administration has tried to enact a travel ban from several Muslim-majority countries — will deliver a speech to the Islamic world meant to be a clear contrast with the vision Obama laid out in his first trip to the region. 
 
 In Israel, Trump will meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, looking to smooth over fresh tensions. Israel was in an uproar earlier this week after U.S. officials confirmed Trump shared highly classified intelligence about the Islamic State group with senior Russian officials visiting the White House. The information, about an IS threat related to the use of laptops on aircraft, came from Israel and there were concerns a valuable Israeli asset could be in danger, a U.S. official said, requesting anonymity to discuss the sensitive material. 
 
 National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster added to the alarm by refusing to declare the Western Wall a part of Israel. U.S. policy holds that ownership of the holiest site where Jews can pray, as with the rest of Jerusalem, is subject to Israeli-Palestinian negotiation. 
 
 In Rome, the president will call upon Pope Francis, the popular, liberal-minded pontiff. Trump denounced Francis during the campaign, calling the holiest man in the Catholic faith "disgraceful" for questioning his faith. 
 
 In Brussels, Trump will attend a meeting of NATO, the World War II-era alliance which Trump has repeatedly mused about abandoning because member states weren't paying their fair share. He recently has shifted to reassure wary allies that he remains committed to the pact. 
 
 And in Sicily, the president will meet with the other leaders of the G7, a gathering of Western economic powers. Key parts of the group are unsettled by Trump's unpredictability and his willingness to cheer on nationalist sentiment. 
 
 Trump's itinerary is heavy with religious symbolism. He'll visit the birthplace of Islam, the Jewish homeland and the Vatican. Officials say the message is "unity." 
 
 "He strongly believes that it is the strength of the faith of people in these religions that will stand up and ultimately be victorious over these forces of terrorism," Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said. 
 
 Administration officials believe the unexpected move of going to Saudi Arabia first was meant to underscore the seriousness of the United States' commitment to fighting extremist groups like the Islamic State. Trump, whose denunciations of Iran have been welcomed by the Saudis, wants to frame the conflict not as one between the West and Islam, but simply between good and evil, according to his aides. 
 
 While some Middle East leaders will likely greet Trump warmly, he could receive a far cooler reception in Europe. Though Pope Francis has said he'd "never make a judgment about a person without hearing him out," others on the continent have sharply criticized Trump. That includes France's newly elected President Emmanuel Macron, who denounced Trump's musings on abandoning the Paris climate treaty, a likely point of contention in Sicily. 
 
 Trump's inauguration sparked thousands of protesters to fill the streets of several European capitals, chaotic scenes that could be repeated during his stops in Rome, Brussels and Sicily. 
 
 "Welcome to the White House abroad," said Ari Fleischer, President George W. Bush's former press secretary. "This is a great opportunity for the president to change the subject, to make real news. But the downside is that it could be dominated by domestic-style questions. ... Every first trip is over-scrutinized. The whole world is watching." 
 
 ___ 
 
 Follow Lemire on Twitter at http://twitter.com/@JonLemire 
 
 . ||||| Taormina, Italy (CNN) Swinging over the green Ionian sea Saturday, his first foreign trip behind him, President Donald Trump was in a valedictory mood . 
 
 Behind him, perched on the hillside, was the former Dominican monastery where G7 leaders had just finishing haranguing him to abandon his campaign promises to withdraw from a major climate agreement. He didn't give in. 
 
 Ahead was a crowd of US troops stationed on this rocky Italian outpost, eager to hear their commander in chief reprise the foreign agenda he'd spend the last nine days considering. 
 
 After nine days of talks with calculating foreign leaders, Trump was eager for the affirmation of an applauding audience. 
 
 "We have been gone for a long time," Trump declared at the Sigonella Air Base here. "Everywhere I go -- we have been gone close to nine days, this will be nine days -- I think we hit a home run no matter where we are." 
 
 It was an upbeat message for a leader fresh from meeting with his new club of foreign counterparts for the first time. But underneath the point-by-point recap of his trip lay uncertainty over his agenda and disputes with his foreign counterparts. 
 
 Trump's first voyage abroad was a story told in chapters, each successively less pleasant for a President still taking stock of his standing on the world stage. 
 
 Beyond a scattering of formal remarks, none of the story was told by Trump himself, who refused to hold a news conference and, by his advisers' own admission, revealed little of his thinking to top aides as he hopped from nation to nation. 
 
 Instead, it was a trip told in pictures with the volume on mute . By the time he departed Sicily, Trump had delivered four major addresses but clarified none of the questions that surround his foreign policy. 
 
 In some ways, uncertainty amounted to a win, at least in the minds of Trump's aides. As Trump prepared to depart Washington last Friday, there was little surety among his staff that the nine-day odyssey could proceed without failure. Trump himself, who hadn't slept in a bed that wasn't his own since taking office, remained skeptical a five-country itinerary could end well. 
 
 A homebody with little appetite for discomfort, Trump was imagining the worst. Unpleasant foreign food, withering jet lag, and an unfamiliar bed had been his experiences as a businessman abroad. Even in the days leading up to his departure, Trump asked whether the trip could be truncated. He vented about the ambitious schedule to his senior advisers in the days leading up to his departure. 
 
 But by then it was too late. With meetings locked in and the world anticipating his global debut, Trump settled into his quarters on Air Force One for a flight four times longer than any he'd taken as President. 
 
 JUST WATCHED President Trump receives Saudi gold medal Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH President Trump receives Saudi gold medal 01:43 
 
 A king's welcome 
 
 Fourteen hours later, Trump was tucked into the back of his armored limousine, speeding into central Riyadh alongside King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud and watching billboards plastered with both their faces whiz past. 
 
 Any concern about an uneasy touch-down abroad disappeared quickly. Welcomed with horse parades, draped with a gold medal and lured into a male-only sword dance , Trump had finally found a country to treat him like a king, if only for a weekend. 
 
 For the first time in his presidency, he was regularly accompanied by the first lady, who consulted with the US State Department before packing her wardrobe and emerged as the unlikely subplot of Trump's debut on the world stage. 
 
 Trump's aides selected the Middle Eastern kingdom as the first stop, partially because the lavish lifestyle lived by its monarchy was bound to be extended to the President. Launching the President's trip from Saudi Arabia also underscored its critical importance in the eyes of the White House, particularly for son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner, who hailed the business deals reached on the trip. 
 
 Yet an air of naïveté hung in the air after the President's speech to leaders of more than 50 Muslim majority nations. The White House described it as something of a fait accompli, with a top official twice declaring that the President had "united the Muslim world." 
 
 In truth, Trump had done nothing of the sort, even with his well-received Riyadh address. Trump's policy adviser Stephen Miller -- whose role writing the speech raised eyebrows -- had drafted a conciliatory address that replaced Trump's "radical Islamic terror" watchword with the milder "Islamist extremism." 
 
 As Trump delivered his opening argument to a room packed with leaders of Muslim nations, however, the newly sedate language didn't entirely come through. 
 
 "There is still much work to be done," Trump said. "That means honestly confronting the crisis of Islamic extremism and the Islamists and Islamic terror of all kinds." 
 
 The slip-up occurred because the President was exhausted , his advisers later explained, only two days into what would become a nine-day slog through meetings and ceremonies. 
 
 JUST WATCHED Trump after UK attack: Terrorists evil losers Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Trump after UK attack: Terrorists evil losers 02:39 
 
 Terror intrudes 
 
 Awaking in Jerusalem two days later to news of a suicide attack in England , Trump found himself confronting at close range the thematic underpinnings of his trip. 
 
 Huddling with aides in his suite at the storied King David hotel overlooking the old city, the message on extremism he'd delivered in Saudi Arabia -- which came with few details -- suddenly appeared more difficult. In Israel, a country intimately familiar with the scourge of terror and the entrenched politics of peace, the problem appeared even more insurmountable. 
 
 Trump was unsatisfied with the language his advisers had prepared for a speech later that morning. The condemnation of the attack lacked verve, Trump believed. Describing the attackers in ordinary terms wouldn't suffice. Instead he wrote up his own description, using the insult he's long considered the most cutting. 
 
 "I will call them from now on losers because that's what's they are. They're losers," Trump said a few hours later standing alongside Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. "We'll have more of them. But they're losers -- just remember that." 
 
 The message was well received. But hours later, it was clear Trump faced a steep climb before bridging the gaps that have long stymied American presidents' attempts at fostering stability in the Middle East. 
 
 "I hope this heralds a real change," Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said ahead of Trump's remarks at the Israel Museum. "Because if the attacker had been Palestinian and the victims had been Israeli children, the suicide bomber's family would have received a stipend from the Palestinian Authority. That's Palestinian law. That law must be changed." 
 
 It was an intrusion of real-world obstacles into Trump's vision for peace, which he once deemed easy, but which this week he declared the hardest deal of all. 
 
 JUST WATCHED President Trump, Pope Francis exchange gifts Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH President Trump, Pope Francis exchange gifts 01:20 
 
 Climate controversy 
 
 When the President arrived at the Vatican on a sun-splashed morning on Wednesday, Pope Francis didn't lecture Trump. He gently encouraged him to do something else: Read. 
 
 The Pope presented Trump with a bound copy of his encyclical on protecting the environment, "Laudato Si: On Care for Our Common Home." 
 
 For all the underlying tensions setting the stage for their first visit, given their unusually harsh exchange last year over immigration and whether the building of walls is a Christian thing to do, the Pope took another tack. 
 
 A skilled politician in his own right, Francis honed in on the President's pending decision whether to pull the US from the Paris climate accord. It was the first of several conversations Trump conducted this week on the landmark carbon reduction agreement, which he vowed as a candidate to scrap. 
 
 Departing the G7, Trump said he would make a decision next week. But to leaders he met with in Sicily, his intentions already seemed clear. German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the group held unsatisfactory conversations on the matter . The US refrained from signing onto a joint statement endorsing Paris after the summit closed; other leaders said Trump wasn't prepared to take that step. 
 
 At the Vatican, though, Trump insisted his mind was open. 
 
 "I'll be reading them," Trump said of the essays from the Pope on the environment and creating peace. 
 
 Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican's secretary of state, weighed in with the direct message urging Trump and his team to stay true to the Paris agreement. 
 
 The President's first meeting with Francis was steeped in symbolism, the final stop in visiting the three homes of the Abrahamic religions: Islam, Judaism and Christianity. 
 
 He's the second American president to visit the Vatican under Francis' papacy. While President Barack Obama's meeting was 20 minutes longer than Trump's, the Holy See wasted little time comparing the two. 
 
 As he left the Apostolic Palace, Trump told the Pope: "I won't forget what you said." 
 
 If he meant climate change, the Pope will have won round one. 
 
 JUST WATCHED Trump calls out NATO allies to pay up Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Trump calls out NATO allies to pay up 02:04 
 
 Selective lecturing 
 
 Flying north from Rome, Trump found the temperature quickly cooling. He arrived at NATO's headquarters on the outskirts of Rome under a cloud of suspicion on multiple fronts. 
 
 After sensitive British intelligence about the Manchester attack appeared in American media outlets, Prime Minister Theresa May fumed , saying she planned to speak her mind when she met Trump at the meetings. It was the second time a foreign government expressed concern about sharing intelligence with their US counterparts: Trump himself revealed secret information to Russian officials earlier this month that could be traced back to Israel. 
 
 In one of the only off-script moments of his trip, Trump declared in Jerusalem that he hadn't mentioned Israel by name with his Russian visitors. But at NATO, the concerns still boiled. 
 
 It was just one of the rifts between Trump and his European counterparts. After open-arm welcomes in Riyadh and Jerusalem, Trump's foreign swing took a distinct tonal shift. Instead of banquets and horses, Trump was suddenly flung into tension-filled meetings with leaders deeply skeptical of his foreign agenda. 
 
 Subsequent sessions proceeded similarly. Trump reportedly griped about the hurdles in opening golf courses in Europe with Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel. European Council President Donald Tusk said after his meeting with Trump that they weren't able to bridge differences over Russia. 
 
 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump board Air Force One on Saturday, May, 27, 2017, at Naval Air Station Sigonella in Italy. They were headed back to the United States after a nine-day trip to the Middle East and Europe. Hide Caption 1 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip President Trump greets people on May 27, after speaking to US troops at Naval Air Station Sigonella. Hide Caption 2 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip President Trump addresses US troops and their families on May 27, at the Sigonella Naval Air Station. Hide Caption 3 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip President Trump and first lady Melania Trump arrive on May 27, to address US military personnel and families at Naval Air Station Sigonella. Hide Caption 4 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip Leaders of the G-7 and some African nations pose for a photo on May 27, on the second day of the G-7 summit in Taormina, Italy. Hide Caption 5 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip President Trump gestures on May 27, during a G-7 session. Hide Caption 6 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip President Donald Trump and his wife, Melania, arrive for a concert of the La Scala Philharmonic Orchestra while in Taormina, Italy, on Friday, May 26. The Trumps are in Italy for a two-day G-7 summit. Hide Caption 7 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip Trump and other leaders pose for a group photo at the G-7 summit on May 26. From left are European Council President Donald Tusk, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Trump, Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni, French President Emmanuel Macron, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, British Prime Minister Theresa May and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker. Hide Caption 8 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip Trump and Trudeau walk together after the group photo. Hide Caption 9 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip G-7 leaders congregate during a walking tour on May 26. Hide Caption 10 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip Trump embraces new French President Emmanuel Macron on May 26. Hide Caption 11 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip The leaders watch a French air squadron. Hide Caption 12 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip Melania Trump arrives at the City Hall in Catania, Italy, on May 26. She was wearing a $51,500 Dolce & Gabbana jacket as she met with other spouses of G-7 leaders. Hide Caption 13 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip Trump shakes hands with Macron in Brussels, Belgium, on Thursday, May 25. They were attending a NATO summit as the alliance officially opened a new $1 billion headquarters. Hide Caption 14 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip Trump stands with other world leaders during a NATO photo shoot on May 25. Hide Caption 15 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip Trump speaks with British Prime Minister Theresa May during a working dinner at NATO headquarters. Hide Caption 16 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip Trump stands next to German Chancellor Angela Merkel at the NATO summit. Hide Caption 17 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip Melania Trump visits the Magritte Museum in Brussels with Amelie Derbaudrenghien, partner of Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel. Hide Caption 18 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip A girl takes a selfie with Melania Trump at a children's hospital in Brussels on May 25. Hide Caption 19 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip Trump meets with Macron in Brussels. Hide Caption 20 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip Trump walks with European Council President Donald Tusk, center, and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, right, after they met at the European Council in Brussels on May 25. Hide Caption 21 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip Trump, third from right, attends a meeting with leaders at the European Council. Hide Caption 22 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip Trump speaks with King Philippe of Belgium as Queen Mathilde and Melania Trump chat during a reception at the Royal Palace in Brussels on Wednesday, May 24. Hide Caption 23 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip Tusk talks to Trump as he welcomes him in Brussels. Hide Caption 24 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip Trump stands with Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel while the national anthem is played during Trump's arrival in Belgium on May 24. Hide Caption 25 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip Protesters in Brussels demonstrate with effigies of Trump and Michel on May 24. Hide Caption 26 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip Trump shakes hands with Italian President Sergio Mattarella in Rome on May 24. Hide Caption 27 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip Pope Francis stands with Trump and his family during a private audience at the Vatican on May 24. Joining the President, from left, are Trump's son-in-law, White House senior adviser Jared Kushner; Trump's daughter and adviser Ivanka Trump; and first lady Melania Trump. Hide Caption 28 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip Trump and the Pope exchange gifts. Trump presented the Pope with a first-edition set of Martin Luther King's writings. The Pope gave Trump an olive-tree medal that the Pope said symbolizes peace. Hide Caption 29 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip Trump and his wife look at the ceilings of the Sistine Chapel. Hide Caption 30 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip Trump speaks to reporters in Rome during a meeting with Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni, right, on May 24. Hide Caption 31 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip The first lady visits a pediatric hospital in Vatican City on May 24. Hide Caption 32 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip Melania Trump arrives at the Vatican on May 24. With Vatican protocol in mind, she wore a black veil and long-sleeved black dress draped down to her calf. Ivanka Trump wore a similar outfit with a larger veil. Hide Caption 33 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip President Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wave at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem on Tuesday, May 23. Trump gave a speech there, reaffirming his country's commitment to Israel while also holding up Judaism's historical ties to the United States. Hide Caption 34 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip People take pictures of the message Trump wrote at Yad Vashem, the Holocaust memorial in Jerusalem, on May 23. Hide Caption 35 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip With the help of US Marines, Trump and his wife lay a wreath at Yad Vashem. Hide Caption 36 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip Trump meets with Mahmoud Abbas, the President of the Palestinian Authority, on May 23. Trump met with Israeli leaders the day before and said he believes both sides "are ready to reach for peace." Hide Caption 37 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip A Palestinian security official takes position before the arrival of Trump's convoy in Bethlehem, West Bank. Hide Caption 38 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip Israeli and American activists hold signs Monday, May 22, during an anti-Trump protest next to the US embassy in Tel Aviv, Israel. Hide Caption 39 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip Melania Trump and Israeli first lady Sara Netanyahu speak to children during their visit to the Hadassah hospital in Jerusalem on May 22. Hide Caption 40 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip Trump talks to reporters as he meets with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on May 22. Trump sought to rebut claims that he damaged Israeli intelligence capabilities by revealing highly classified information to Russian operatives earlier this month. "Just so you understand, I never mentioned the word or the name Israel," Trump told reporters as he began the second leg of his first foreign tour. Hide Caption 41 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip Trump touches the Western Wall, Judaism's holiest prayer site, while in Jerusalem on May 22. Trump became the first sitting US president to visit the wall. Hide Caption 42 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip Trump stands in the Western Wall plaza. To his left, in black, is Shmuel Rabinowitz, the rabbi of the Western Wall. Hide Caption 43 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip First lady Melania Trump, in white, visits the Western Wall. At far left is Ivanka Trump. Hide Caption 44 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip The President and first lady plant a tree in Jerusalem with Israeli President Reuven Rivlin. Hide Caption 45 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip Trump is welcomed by Netanyahu upon arriving in Tel Aviv on May 22. Trump started his trip with two days in Saudi Arabia. Hide Caption 46 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip On the way to Tel Aviv, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson speaks with reporters aboard Air Force One. Hide Caption 47 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip While in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Trump attends the inauguration ceremony for the Global Center for Combating Extremist Ideology. Joining him here are Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, center, and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, left. Hide Caption 48 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip Trump speaks in Riyadh during the Arab Islamic American Summit on Sunday, May 21. Trump looked to make it clear that the United States is not at war with Islam. "This is not a battle between different faiths, different sects or different civilizations," he said. "This is a battle between barbaric criminals who seek to obliterate human life, and decent people of all religions who seek to protect it. This is a battle between good and evil." Hide Caption 49 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip Trump sits at the summit, which included leaders from 55 Muslim-majority countries. He urged them to do more to eradicate terrorist groups that claim the mantle of Islam. "We can only overcome this evil if the forces of good are united and strong and if everyone in this room does their fair share and fulfills their part of the burden," Trump said. "Muslim-majority countries must take the lead in stamping out radicalization." Hide Caption 50 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip Trump poses with other leaders at the Arab Islamic American Summit. Hide Caption 51 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip Saudi King Salman shakes hands with Trump on May 21. Trump is the first US president to start his first foreign trip in the Middle East. Hide Caption 52 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip Trump meets with other heads of state in Riyadh on May 21. Hide Caption 53 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip Trump speaks with the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, Gen. Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan. Hide Caption 54 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip First lady Melania Trump chats with children during a visit to the American International School in Riyadh on May 21. Hide Caption 55 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip While in Riyadh, President Trump meets with Bahrain's King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa on May 21. Hide Caption 56 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip President Trump and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi share a laugh during a meeting on May 21. El-Sisi complimented Trump on his "unique personality that is capable of doing the impossible." Trump exchanged pleasantries back, praising el-Sisi's shoes. Hide Caption 57 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip Trump is handed a sword during a welcoming ceremony at Riyadh's Murabba Palace on Saturday, May 20. Hide Caption 58 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip Trump sits with members of his staff and Cabinet before a meeting with Saudi King Salman on May 20. Hide Caption 59 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip Trump and King Salman take part in a signing ceremony at the Saudi Royal Court in Riyadh on May 20. The two leaders oversaw the signing of a defense deal worth nearly $110 billion. Hide Caption 60 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip The Trumps look at a display of modern art at the Saudi Royal Court in Riyadh. Hide Caption 61 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip King Salman presents Trump with a gilded necklace and medal, the country's highest honor. The distinction also was bestowed upon Presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush. Hide Caption 62 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip The first lady chats with Saudi Crown Prince Muhammad bin Nayef at the medal ceremony on May 20. Hide Caption 63 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip Ivanka Trump attends the medal ceremony. Hide Caption 64 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip Trump meets with King Salman after arriving in Riyadh on May 20. Hide Caption 65 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip Soldiers on horseback carry the US and Saudi flags as they escort Trump to the Saudi Royal Court in Riyadh. Hide Caption 66 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip Trump is welcomed by King Salman after arriving at the King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh. Hide Caption 67 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip The Trumps take part in the welcome ceremony. Hide Caption 68 of 69 Photos: President Trump's first foreign trip The President and first lady wave from Air Force One after landing in Riyadh. Hide Caption 69 of 69 
 
 At NATO, the mood hadn't improved. Despite the military bands and a military jet flyover, Trump wasn't in a conciliatory mood. While he vowed in Riyadh the US would no longer lecture its allies -- particularly on human rights -- it was a lecture he delivered during an unveiling ceremony at the military alliance's new building. 
 
 "Twenty-three of the 28 member nations are still not paying what they should be paying and what they're supposed to be paying for their defense," Trump said as his fellow NATO leaders openly scoffed. "This is not fair to the people and taxpayers of the United States. And many of these nations owe massive amounts of money from past years and not paying in those past years." 
 
 Trump's message didn't contain an explicit endorsement of NATO's collective defense pact -- an attack on one is an attack on all -- though his aides later insisted the message was implied. 
 
 As he mingled at his first major summit of world leaders, it was evident the new member of the exclusive society wasn't out to make friends. He remained largely isolated during informal talks, speaking intently with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg as other leaders huddled around Merkel, the most powerful leader in Europe. When it came time for a photo-op, Trump pushed his way past Montenegro's prime minister to the front. 
 
 It was a far cry from the display of welcome he'd experienced in Saudi Arabia only five days earlier. And it wasn't due to improve as he flew to his final stop in Sicily. 
 
 JUST WATCHED Trump advisers dodge Kushner questions Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Trump advisers dodge Kushner questions 01:28 
 
 Russia questions swirl 
 
 The week-long swing through the Middle East and Europe provided momentary relief for a beleaguered Trump, whose presidency reached its most precarious moments in the scandal-pocked week before he departed. 
 
 Aides had hoped he could escape the Russia controversy briefly while traveling overseas. But by the time Trump arrived at his final stop in Sicily, the probe into Russia's election-year meddling had only inched closer to Trump's inner circle. 
 
 As he returns, decisions about hiring lawyers and firing aides loom. 
 
 Spending his first nights as president away from home, Trump found himself stewing over the latest developments from foreign hotel rooms late into the night. Even with wife, Melania, alongside for the longest stretch of his presidency, Trump was consumed by the story that has deeply sidetracked his agenda. 
 
 On the rocky hillside where leaders were meeting, the questions about Russia and the controversies back home seemed to merge. Leaders wondered whether Trump -- whose campaign was aided by Russian election meddling, according to a US intelligence analysis -- could ever be trusted to confront Russian President Vladimir Putin. 
 
 The Russia controversy also prevented Trump from fully embracing what would ordinarily be a crowning moment of his presidency. Unwilling to face questions about the controversy, Trump eschewed any kind of interactions with the press, a setting he otherwise could use to tout his accomplishments abroad. 
 
 Most other leaders took questions as they departed Taormina, many detailing points of contention with the new US leader. Trump himself offered no view of his side of the encounters nor could he articulate his foreign policy while answering questions about them. 
 
 Returning to Washington, Trump remained in his cocoon -- pleased with himself, but aware the silence won't last much longer. ||||| Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Donald Trump sways along with a traditional Saudi sword dance 
 
 The US says it has signed deals worth more than $350bn (£270bn) with Saudi Arabia as Donald Trump begins his first foreign trip as president. 
 
 The agreements included an $110bn arms deal, which the White House described as the single biggest in US history. 
 
 Mr Trump and his wife Melania were greeted in the Saudi capital by King Salman on Saturday morning local time. 
 
 The eight-day trip comes as Mr Trump faces uproar at home following his sacking of FBI director James Comey. 
 
 It will also take in Israel, the Palestinian city of Bethlehem in the occupied West Bank, Brussels, the Vatican, and Sicily. 
 
 US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said the arms deal was aimed at countering the "malign" influence of Iran. 
 
 "The package of defence equipment and services supports the long-term security of Saudi Arabia and the entire Gulf region," he told a news conference in Riyadh. 
 
 Mr Trump is accompanied on his visit by his daughter Ivanka, an unpaid White House adviser, and her husband Jared Kushner, a key member of the Trump administration. 
 
 Like British Prime Minister Theresa May and German Chancellor Angela Merkel on their recent visits to Saudi Arabia, Mrs Trump and Ivanka Trump did not wear headscarves. 
 
 Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Melania Trump didn't wear a headscarf, but does it matter? 
 
 In January 2015, Mr Trump criticised then-First Lady Michelle Obama for doing the same. In a tweet, Mr Trump said she had "insulted" her hosts. 
 
 On Sunday, Mr Trump will attend the Arab Islamic American Summit in Riyadh and speak about his "hopes of a peaceful vision of Islam". Aides say the president hopes his speech will resonate worldwide and express "a common vision of peace, progress and prosperity". 
 
 Mr Trump caused controversy during his campaign by calling for Muslims to be temporarily banned from entering the US over security concerns. Legislation aimed at restricting travel from several Muslim-majority countries remains tied up in the US courts. 
 
 Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Trump's first trip: What's on the agenda in Saudi Arabia? 
 
 The summit agenda is expected to focus on combating Islamist militants and the growing regional influence of Iran. 
 
 Mr Trump has been a fierce critic of the international deal with Iran which eased sanctions in return for a curb on its nuclear activities. 
 
 Image copyright AFP/Getty Images Image caption Mr Trump received Saudi Arabia's highest civilian honour from King Salman (R) 
 
 Unlike his predecessor, Barack Obama, he is not expected to highlight human rights during his trip. 
 
 In a tweet, King Salman praised Mr Trump, adding that he hoped his visit would "strengthen our strategic co-operation". He later handed the US President Saudi Arabia's highest civilian honour, the King Abdulaziz medal. 
 
 Can Trump follow the script? By Lyse Doucet, Chief International Correspondent, in Riyadh 
 
 It's being called a summit like no other and in some ways, that's true. Saudis note that past presidential visits were organised by the Royal Court. This time Riyadh is bursting with summits and forums, drawing in all levels of government and everyone from wealthy CEOs, to experts on extremism, to young savvy social media experts. 
 
 But behind the hype, there's nervousness too. "We don't talk about an elephant in the room, we call it the elephant in Riyadh," a young Saudi tells me, highlighting the famous unpredictability of the US president when he veers from the official script. This visit is tightly choreographed to minimise that risk. 
 
 Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Saudi Arabia's foreign minister: Donald Trump's visit is a 'coup for peace and coexistence' 
 
 And it's not that officials in Riyadh are unaware of the crises roiling Washington. "The Saudis still see him as a president who can and will deliver when it comes to their interests," says one adviser. That's what matters for now. But whether Washington will fully follow the Saudi script for the region still has to be seen. 
 
 White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said that Saudi Arabia had signed a deal to buy just under $110bn (£84bn) of American-made arms, which he said was the biggest such deal in US history. 
 
 Reuters news agency reports the deal includes the assembly of 150 Blackhawk helicopters in Saudi Arabia, worth about $6bn alone. 
 
 AFP quoted a White House official as saying the deal will bolster the kingdom's "ability to contribute to counter-terrorism operations across the region, reducing the burden on the US military to conduct those operations". 
 
 Saudi Arabia has been fighting Houthi rebels in neighbouring Yemen since March 2015. The United Nations says about 10,000 people have been killed since the fighting began, with Yemen on the verge of famine. 
 
 Rex Tillerson said the arms deal and other investments would add up to more than $350bn. 
 
 US giant General Electric said it had signed agreements worth $15 billion, and Saudi oil giant Aramco, had been expected to sign $50bn (£38bn) of deals with 11 US companies. 
 
 The agenda for the rest of Mr Trump's trip 
 
 Monday-Tuesday, 22-23 May : Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, before visiting the West Bank on Tuesday 
 
 : Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, before visiting the West Bank on Tuesday Wednesday 24 May : Rome and Brussels. Mr Trump will meet Pope Francis, then Belgian officials 
 
 : Rome and Brussels. Mr Trump will meet Pope Francis, then Belgian officials Thursday, 25 May : A Nato summit in Brussels 
 
 : A Nato summit in Brussels Friday, 26 May: Sicily, for a meeting of G7 members 
 
 What will the Trump presidency mean for Israel? 
 
 Find out which foreign leaders President Trump has met or called since taking office, as well as the countries he has mentioned in his tweets. 
 
 What has Trump said about your country? ||||| In this May 26, 2017, photo, leaders of the G7, from left, European Council President Donald Tusk, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, U.S. President Donald J. Trump,... (Associated Press) 
 
 In this May 26, 2017, photo, leaders of the G7, from left, European Council President Donald Tusk, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, U.S. President Donald J. Trump, Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni, French President Emmanuel Macron, Japan's Prime Minister... (Associated Press) 
 
 TAORMINA, Sicily (AP) — As he dashed through the Middle East and Europe, Donald Trump looked like a conventional American leader abroad. He solemnly laid a wreath at a Holocaust memorial in Jerusalem, had an audience with the pope at the Vatican and stood center stage with Western allies at the annual summits that dominate the diplomatic calendar. 
 
 But when Trump spoke, he sounded like anything but a typical U.S. president. 
 
 On his first overseas tour, the new president made no attempt to publicly promote democracy and human rights in Saudi Arabia, instead declaring that he wasn't there to lecture. In Israel and the West Bank, he pointedly did not back America's long-standing support for a two-state solution to the intractable peace process. And in the heart of Europe, Trump berated NATO allies over their financial commitments and would not explicitly endorse the "one for all, all for one" defense doctrine that has been the cornerstone of trans-Atlantic security for decades. 
 
 To the White House, Trump's first trip abroad was an embodiment of the promises he made as a candidate to put America's interests first and break through the guardrails that have long defined U.S. foreign policy. Trump advisers repeatedly described the trip as historic and groundbreaking, including one senior official who brashly said without evidence that Trump had "united the entire Muslim world." 
 
 Addressing U.S. troops Saturday at a Sicilian air base moments before departing for Washington, Trump himself declared: "I think we hit a home run." 
 
 Trump boarded Air Force One without having held a single news conference on the trip — a break in presidential precedent that allowed him to avoid facing tough questions about his foreign policy or the raging controversies involving the investigations into his campaign's possible ties to Russia. Instead, the White House hoped to let the images of Trump in statesman-like settings tell the story of his first trip abroad, and perhaps ease questions about his preparedness for the delicate world of international diplomacy. 
 
 Yet those questions are sure to persist, particularly given Trump's remarkable lashing of NATO allies in Brussels. Standing alongside his counterparts, the president effectively accused countries who do not meet NATO's goal of spending 2 percent of their gross domestic product of sponging off American taxpayers. He left some allies, already nervous about Russia's saber-rattling and Trump's public affection for Russian President Vladimir Putin, further flummoxed when he ended his remarks without making an explicit statement of support for Article 5, the common defense clause that underpins the 68-year-old military alliance. 
 
 "The mood of Article 5, the idea that we are all in this together, is not the mood he conveyed," said Jon Alterman, a senior vice president at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. "The mood he conveyed is you guys are a bunch of freeloaders." 
 
 Some European leaders believe Trump can still be coaxed away from his controversial campaign positions. At the Group of 7 summit in the coastal town of Taormina, leaders launched an aggressive, behind-the-scenes campaign to get him to stay in the Paris climate accord. 
 
 While Trump emerged from the summit without a final decision on the Paris pact, he declared in a tweet Saturday that he will make a final decision next week. 
 
 Trump's return home Saturday night also shifts attention back to the storm clouds of scandal hovering over the White House. In a briefing with reporters Saturday, White House officials shifted uncomfortably and refused to comment when asked about reports that Jared Kushner, Trump's son-in-law and senior adviser, tried to set up secret communications with Russia after the election. 
 
 Trump's nine-day, five-stop international tour resulted in few tangible policy achievements. The U.S. inked a $110 billion arms sale to Saudi Arabia and unveiled numerous business commitments in the region, though the White House never provided specific details about the scope of the agreements. At NATO, the White House touted the alliance's commitment to boosting defense spending, though the resolution was essentially a continuation of a pact agreed to two years earlier. 
 
 Still, the trip offered the clearest picture to date of how Trump plans to put his imprint on America's relationship with the world. 
 
 From the start, he set a new direction. Instead of following presidential tradition by making his international debut in a neighboring democracy like Canada or Mexico, Trump flew to Saudi Arabia, the repressive desert kingdom. 
 
 He appeared particularly comfortable in the setting. In Riyadh, he received a lavish, gold-plated welcome: His image was projected across the facade of the luxury hotel where he stayed, horses flanked his motorcade as it moved to one of the king's desert palaces and an extravagant celebration was held in his honor, complete with a traditional Saudi sword dance. 
 
 Trump betrayed no awkwardness at relishing the warm embrace of one of the world's most oppressive governments. Instead, he reciprocated with a pledge to not publicly chastise the ruling royal family for its crackdown on political dissent. 
 
 "We are not here to lecture — we are not here to tell other people how to live, what to do, who to be, or how to worship," Trump said. 
 
 Trump was lavishly feted in Israel as well, embraced by a prime minister who despised his predecessor and was eager to flatter the new president. Trump received multiple standing ovations — one of his favorite measures of success — during a speech on U.S. relations with Israel. The photo of his solemn visit to the Western Wall was splashed across the front pages of Israel's newspapers. 
 
 Like many of his predecessors, Trump made a personal appeal for peace between Israelis and Palestinians. But he never uttered the words "two-state solution," the longtime U.S. policy plan that would create a separate homeland for Palestinians. He also made no mention of new Jewish settlements in the West Bank, a major point of contention for the Palestinians. 
 
 The smaller moments of the president's trip were endlessly dissected as well, from first lady Melania Trump's apparent reluctance to hold her husband's hand on occasion to his shoving aside of Montenegro's prime minister to get to the front of a pack of leaders at a NATO photo opportunity. At the G-7, it was Trump's interactions with other leaders that commanded attention. 
 
 The six other heads of state took a short walk from one event to the next, chatting convivially as they strolled through the narrow Sicilian streets. Trump hung back, deciding against joining his peers. 
 
 Instead, he got in a golf cart and the American president's mini-motorcade drove the route alone, Trump once more having charted his own course. 
 
 ___ 
 
 Follow Julie Pace at http://twitter.com/jpaceDC and Jonathan Lemire at http://twitter.com/jonlemire ||||| Little matters more to Donald Trump, the brander-turned-American president, than imagery. Trump staffed his government out of central casting, and this past week it was time for him to audition for his role: leader of the free world. 
 
 In Washington, Trump is mostly seen only when he chooses: at a lectern in the Rose Garden. Saluting as he boards Marine One. Behind the Resolute Desk of the Oval Office signing jumbo-size executive orders, pushing his red button to summon a butler with Diet Coke or flashing a thumbs-up from his high-backed cherry leather chair. 
 
 But a nine-day marathon foreign trip that concluded Saturday in Sicily has offered the first extended — and often unfiltered, thanks to the steady stream of raw camera footage provided by his host countries — look at Trump on the world stage. 
 
 Trump was charming and boorish. He was deferential to the ­berobed king of Saudi Arabia and Pope Francis, yet aggressively rude to his European colleagues, brushing aside a Balkan prime minister to get to his place lining up for a photo shoot at NATO. The French newspaper Le Monde admonished Trump for “verbal and physical brutality” toward NATO allies and said he “lectured them like children.” 
 
 [Trump chastises fellow NATO members, demands they meet payment obligations] 
 
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 He strode around hulkingly. He nervously buttoned and unbuttoned his suit jacket. He sometimes seemed unsure whether to smile his toothy grin or glare, as he does when posing for portraits, so he alternated. At formal events, Trump did not always know where to go or what to do. 
 
 “What is the protocol?” he asked Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as they walked down a red carpet at an airport arrival ceremony in Tel Aviv. 
 
 “Who knows?” Netanyahu replied. “I think they’ll just tell us where to stand.” 
 
 Trump was visibly comfortable in environs that evoked his own, such as Saudi Arabia’s gilded-and-chandeliered palaces, yet appeared out of place in others. He arrived like a wrecking ball at the new NATO headquarters, a glass-and-steel behemoth that stands as a symbol of globalism and ­bureaucracy. 
 
 Trump’s family members took center stage. Daughter Ivanka and her husband, Jared Kushner, both White House advisers, stood behind or next to the president when he delivered his speech to Muslim leaders, prayed at the Western Wall, addressed Israeli-Palestinian peace and met the pope. They peeled off from the trip in Rome, midway through. 
 
 First lady Melania Trump was omnipresent, although largely silent and emotionless. She and her husband were rarely seen exchanging words, and he sometimes walked ahead of her, almost as if she were an ornament. 
 
 But the first lady came out of her shell at solo events, handing out Dr. Seuss books and coloring with children. She was especially moved by her visit to Bambino Gesù Children’s Hospital in Rome, where she read a book to and held hands with a boy who was awaiting a heart transplant. A few hours later, the first lady learned that the hospital had found a donor. “Receiving that news is a moment I will never forget,” she said. 
 
 (The Washington Post) 
 
 A Slovenian-born former model, Melania received considerable attention for her fashion. The Saudi media fawned over her attire in Riyadh as “conservative” and “classy,” although she raised eyebrows strolling the streets of Sicily in a colorful floral jacket by the Italian designer Dolce & Gabbana that reportedly retails for $51,500. 
 
 [Trump summons Muslim nations to confront ‘Islamic terror of all kinds’] 
 
 Although critics at home had predicted major gaffes, the president made none. And Trump participated in and contributed to substantive meetings on issues from counterterrorism and trade to climate change and migration. 
 
 “A president becomes presidential,” said Fred Davis, a Republican media strategist. “I’m hoping this trip brings him a level of personal peace, confidence and gravitas that he can use back home.” 
 
 In Saudi Arabia, Trump’s call for cooperation in the fight against the Islamic State unquestionably pushed the issue forward, with renewed emphasis on stopping terrorism financing and blocking militant messaging and recruitment. Beyond any substantive accomplishment, Trump revitalized Arab leaders, particularly in the Persian Gulf, who felt they had been disrespected and ignored by President Barack Obama. 
 
 “The United States shifted over the last eight years as a neutral player, at best, that looked the other way at Iranian aggression around the world,” said Ari ­Fleischer, a White House press secretary under former president George W. Bush. “We are now where we should be.” 
 
 In Israel and on the West Bank, Trump repeated his pledge to bring Israelis and Palestinians together in a peace deal, although no progress was made on starting that process. He delighted Netanyahu, and probably discouraged Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, by not mentioning a two-state solution as a goal. 
 
 [Amid a chillier welcome in Europe, Trump keeps pining for Saudi Arabia] 
 
 In Europe, Trump’s badgering remarks on defense spending — during a NATO ceremony memorializing the joint alliance response to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks — left a bad taste. There was widespread disappointment at Trump’s failure to use the occasion to reaffirm the U.S. commitment to the alliance’s joint defense pact, Article 5, although national security adviser H.R. McMaster said that “of course” Trump supports it. 
 
 Trump’s behavior, said Stefan Leifert of Germany’s public broadcaster ZDF, was “a slap in the face of all other alliance members.” 
 
 But there were also positive reactions. Germany’s Die Welt newspaper commentator Christoph B. Schiltz wrote that Trump’s “urging, his bugging and his persistence have left the alliance finally engaging more in the fight against international terrorism.” 
 
 The White House appeared to step on its own media applause lines by failing to provide timely fact sheets or copies of signed agreements Trump was touting in public as “historic” and “epic.” Media spokesmen sometimes were ill-equipped to provide basic information. And unlike virtually every president on similar journeys, Trump held no news ­conferences. 
 
 On the campaign trail, as Trump assessed Obama’s foreign policy, he fixated on an image from China that he thought symbolized America’s declining power: Obama disembarking Air Force One in Hangzhou, where he was attending a Group of 20 summit, on a metal ladder extending from the plane’s belly. 
 
 “They have pictures of other leaders who are . . . coming down with a beautiful red carpet. And Obama is coming down a metal staircase,” Trump said at a stop in Ohio. “If that were me I would say, ‘You know what, folks, I respect you a lot but close the doors, let’s get out of here.’ ” 
 
 Trump did not have to make that call on this trip. At each stop there were better-than- satisfactory staircases from which he could descend. At the Riyadh airport, trumpets blared, soldiers stood at attention, fighter jets flew overhead and a spotless red carpet stretched across the tarmac. The aging King Salman, arriving in a golf cart and aided by a cane, warmly greeted the president at the foot of the staircase. 
 
 “It was very spectacular,” Trump later told European leaders, using his characteristic hyperbole to describe his welcome in Saudi Arabia. “I don’t think there was ever anything like that. That was beyond anything anyone’s seen.” 
 
 [What scandal? In Saudi leg of foreign tour, Trump escapes ‘that Russia thing.’] 
 
 On his arrival in Tel Aviv, another band, another red carpet and another head of state stood waiting. Even in Rome and Brussels, which are hardly Trump-friendly locales, the president received a grand welcome. 
 
 Trump often found himself the center of attention, both because of America’s place in the world and his singular standing as an international curiosity. But he seemed most at ease playing the undisputed leading man, such as in Riyadh, where the Saudi royal family treated him as one of their own, or in Jerusalem, where Netanyahu lifted him up at every opportunity. 
 
 “It is disturbing to see how impressionable he is,” said Jennifer Palmieri, a former communications adviser to Obama and Hillary Clinton. “His standard for whether or not a visit went well is how well he was treated. It is unnerving to see the leaders of other countries attempt to outdo each other in appealing to his ego as a means of bending the United States to their will.” 
 
 Trump’s confidence was less apparent at the Vatican, where he played the supplicant to the pope, sitting across a wooden desk as if he were interviewing for a job. 
 
 As the trip went on, Trump seemed to be having less of a good time, perhaps in part because scandals were brewing in Washington that would await him. 
 
 [Pope welcomes Trump to the Vatican despite past disagreements] 
 
 In Brussels, where he attended events celebrating NATO, Trump looked downright bored. As the king of Belgium and other leaders took turns at the lectern, Trump got fidgety, shifting in his seat, looking up to the sky and down to his feet, and crossing his arms over his chest. 
 
 The president — who aides say has little patience for listening to other people speak — then endured a dinner session in which the leaders of all 28 NATO partners gave remarks. 
 
 And here in picturesque Taormina, at the Group of Seven summit on the rocky Sicilian coast, Trump struggled to look interested during long meetings with allies in a room decorated with the flags of other countries. As the other G-7 leaders strolled the streets of this ancient fortress town, Trump followed along in a golf cart. 
 
 A weight seemed to lift from Trump’s shoulders when he touched down by helicopter at the U.S. Naval Air Station Sigonella, on the Sicilian island, for a pep rally with military families before flying home to Washington. 
 
 The need for diplomatic niceties was over. The music playing was his campaign soundtrack. The American flag hanging behind him was several stories tall. Trump could be Trump. 
 
 The president riffed about winning — “you’re going to do a lot of winning!” — and, evoking President Ronald Reagan, said his trip would pave the way for “peace through strength.” 
 
 “That’s what we’re gonna have,” Trump said. “We’re gonna have a lot of strength and we’re gonna have a lot of peace.” 
 
 Anthony Faiola and Stephanie Kirchner in Berlin; Stefano Pitrelli in Giardini Naxos, Italy, and Michael Birnbaum in London contributed to this report.
– "No president has ever visited the homelands and holy sites of the Jewish, Christian, and Muslim faiths all on one trip," says National Security Adviser HR McMaster—and President Trump's critics say there are probably good reasons why. Trump departs Friday for an ambitious first foreign trip as president that will include Saudi Arabia, Israel, and the Vatican, a NATO meeting in Belgium, and the G7 summit in Sicily. A roundup of coverage: Trump's first stop on the nine-day trip will be Saudi Arabia, where he is expected to address the leaders of 50 Muslim countries, CNN reports. McMaster says Trump's goal is "to unite peoples of all faiths around a common vision of peace, progress, and prosperity," and his speech in Riyadh will focus on the need to "confront radical ideology" and allow a "peaceful vision of Islam" to dominate. Trump's second stop will be Israel, where his plans include visits to the Western Wall and the West Bank town of Bethlehem. Newsweek reports that the president had to call off a planned speech at the ancient hilltop site of Masada after Israel declined to allow a helicopter landing. A source tell the Jerusalem Post that Trump will not propose a peace plan at this point, though he may state his opposition to Israeli settlement expansion. The president's European stops will include meetings with Pope Francis and dozens of other leaders and heads of state, Time reports in a detailed look at his itinerary. Among them will be new French President Emmanuel Macron, who will meet Trump for a working lunch May 25. Sources tell the New York Times that Trump has complained to friends that he doesn't really want to go on the trip. His critics, fearing the possibility of monumental gaffes, would also like him to stay home. Stephen J. Hadley, George W. Bush's national security adviser, however, says such trips are tightly controlled and Trump will probably be at ease on the world stage. "Remember, Trump is a nothing if not a showman," Hadley says. “He’s been very public for decades and very conscious about how he comes across in the media." Heritage Foundation foreign policy expert James Carofano tells the Washington Post that the trip abroad will be an opportunity for Trump to have a fresh start after his troubles in DC. "The great thing about a trip, they control the environment, you control the interaction, you control the agenda and you control the press access," he says. "If you fumble on one of these trips, it’s nobody’s fault but your own." Larry Sabato, head of the University of Virginia Center for Politics, disagrees. He tells the AP no other president has made a first foreign trip amid so much controversy. "He's already a president viewed skeptically by much of the world. And while the pictures from the trip may be great, the White House can't change the headlines that will follow him wherever he goes," he says. Melania Trump will be accompanying her husband on the trip, and her itinerary includes G7 and NATO spousal programs as well as speaking to American military families in Italy, Politico reports. "This will not just be an opportunity to support my husband as he works on important matters of national security and foreign relations, it will also be my honor to visit and speak with women and children from different countries," she said in a statement Thursday. (Trump is rumored to be planning to appoint Callista Gingrich as the US ambassador to the Vatican.)