text: 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. ||||| US President Donald Trump will repeat his opposition to settlement growth in the West Bank during his first visit to the region next week – and expects the Israeli government to acknowledge that his position has been heard, a senior White House official said on Thursday. 
   
   
   
   The president will visit Jerusalem and Bethlehem during his visit on Monday and Tuesday, meeting with both Israeli and Palestinian leaders, after attending an “Arab Islamic summit” in Riyadh over the weekend. 
   
   
   
   
   
   He will not arrive in Jerusalem – or Riyadh – proposing diplomatic frameworks or road maps of any kind for Israeli-Arab peace, the official said.“This is not a trip in which the president comes and says, ‘Here’s my peace plan,’” the official said. “We’re not looking at something formal yet – perhaps down the road.”And while the president hopes to eventually bring Israelis and Palestinians around the same table, the White House believes it is “too early” for those talks to begin on this trip, the official said, confirming earlier reporting in The Jerusalem Post that a trilateral summit among US, Israeli and Palestinian leaders had been put on hold.Aides say the president has no plans ever to serve as an “arbiter of details” in future peace negotiations. But “he has expressed a general concern” with ongoing Israeli settlement activity, the official said.“He will reiterate that,” said the official. “He has not abandoned the two-state solution.”Trump first outlined his concerns about Israel’s settlement construction outside of existing settlement blocs in February when Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited him in Washington. “Hold back a bit” on future building, Trump asked Netanyahu in front of the press.Now, Trump expects “assurances and signals from the Israeli government that they’ve heard his views,” the senior official said.Trump’s predecessor, Barack Obama, had held that settlements were a stumbling block to peace. While Trump has not expressed that position, Israel had hoped he would have a more tolerant view of settlement construction, which it believes has no bearing on the peace process.Netanyahu on Thursday said he believed that Palestinian refusal to recognize Israel as the nation state of the Jews was the stumbling block to the peace process.“The failure to resolve the conflict with the Palestinians and achieve peace lies with the Palestinian refusal to accept the existence of the Jewish State in any borders,” Netanyahu told Costa Rican Foreign Minister Manuel A. González Sanz.Heather Nauert, the Trump administration’s new spokesperson at the State Department, said that in Bethlehem Trump will “express his desire for dignity and self-determination of the Palestinian people” while meeting with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas after visiting with Israel’s President Reuven Rivlin and Netanyahu in Jerusalem.Trump will also offer remarks at the Israel Museum and visit Yad Vashem, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and the Western Wall, the holiest site in Judaism. Administration officials have not stated whether the president believes the wall is in sovereign Israeli territory, and one official on Thursday confirmed that Trump will be accompanied only by the rabbi of the Western Wall – not by any Israeli government officials – “in keeping with the religious nature of the site.”The official could not confirm or deny reports that Ivanka Trump, the president’s daughter and an Orthodox Jew, will join the president on his trip to the wall.In Israel, the US Embassy spokeswoman told the Post that “the Western Wall is in Jerusalem.”She spoke in reference to comments attributed to US officials working in Jerusalem that the Western Wall was in the West Bank, meaning that it was not under Israeli sovereignty.“The reports in the press about the conversations are not accurate,” she said. “In any event, such alleged statements would not have been authorized by the White House, do not reflect the US position and certainly not the president’s position.“All indications are US officials’ actions were in accordance with longstanding US policy on coordination for such official visits to Jerusalem.”The sudden dispute that broke out between the US and Israel over the Western Wall was followed by reports that Trump planned to delay the execution of his pre-election pledge to relocate the US Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Israel had hoped that he would announce the move while in the capital.Trump’s Middle East envoy Jason Greenblatt is already in the area meeting with Israelis and Palestinians. On Thursday night, he met with King Abdullah in Jordan. Earlier he met with Netanyahu’s staff.As a sign of support for Trump’s drive to improve the Palestinian economy, Israel’s cabinet is expected to approve on Sunday a package of economic incentives for the Palestinians. ||||| WASHINGTON — President Trump leaves on Friday for a nine-day, five-city foreign excursion, his first trip outside the United States as the country’s leader and top diplomat. 
   
   He doesn’t really want to go. 
   
   In recent days, Mr. Trump has groused to several friends that he is not looking forward to leaving his new White House cocoon for high-profile, high-pressure meetings with dozens of world leaders in unfamiliar settings. 
   
   At one point, he barked at an aide that he thought his first tour abroad should be only about half as long. He will have to abandon his well-known preference for sleeping in his own bed (or in one at the hotels or golf resorts he owns) as he hops between Saudi Arabia, Israel, Belgium, Italy and the Vatican — all places without a Trump-branded property. 
   
   But the trip comes at a critical moment for Mr. Trump’s young presidency. It is his first opportunity to deliver specifics about his “America first” worldview to a global audience that has watched his initial, chaotic months in the White House with a mix of amusement, befuddlement and alarm. ||||| 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 
   
   . ||||| “I am very excited for the upcoming trip,” Melania Trump said in a statement. | Getty Melania Trump scheduled to address U.S. military families during trip abroad 
   
   Melania Trump will engage with foreign women and children and deliver remarks to U.S. military families and personnel when she joins President Donald Trump on his first trip abroad as commander in chief, the first lady’s office announced Thursday. 
   
   The Trumps will leave Washington on Friday for a trip to Saudi Arabia, Israel, Rome, Brussels and Sicily. And while Melania Trump will accompany her husband at some events, the White House said the first lady will also participate in many of her own, including attending spousal programs at the NATO and G-7 summits in Brussels and Sicily, respectively, and speaking to U.S. military personnel and families in Italy. 
   
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   “I am very excited for the upcoming trip,” Melania Trump said in a statement. “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, with different perspectives.” ||||| 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 has canceled a planned visit and speech at the ancient mountain fortress of Masada in Israel after authorities told him that he could not land his helicopter on top of the UNESCO-listed site. 
   
   Instead, Trump will now deliver a speech at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem. It comes after an Israeli Air Force (IAF) regulation that prevents helicopters landing at the summit of the Masada site, according to Israel’s Channel 2 broadcaster. 
   
   Read more: What to know about Masada, the ancient Israeli site where Trump wasn't allowed to land his chopper 
   
   Unlike former presidents who have made the trip, such as George W. Bush and Bill Clinton, Trump declined to land the helicopter at a base of the historic site and then take the cable car up, preferring to cancel the visit altogether. 
   
   The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declined to comment, referring any matters involving Trump’s schedule to the U.S. government. The Israeli Foreign Ministry also declined to comment on Trump’s schedule. 
   
   The reason for the regulation is that helicopters on approach create dust, making landing at the desert site 1,300 feet above sea level precarious. On a previous 1997 landing by the IAF in the middle of Masada, the wind created by the helicopter caused damage to the ruins, according to the Jerusalem Post. 
   
   Masada, a UNESCO World Heritage site that the cultural agency calls a creation of “majestic beauty,” is built upon a mountain overlooking the shores of the Dead Sea in southern Israel’s Judean desert, some 60 miles southeast of Jerusalem. It is one of the country’s archaeological wonders. 
   
   King Herod is believed to have built the fortress, but its defining story is that its Jewish rebel defenders who—under threat from a Roman siege—killed themselves rather than be captured alive by the invading forces some time between 73 and 74 AD. 
   
   News of the president’s cancellation stirred reactions among observers of the American-Israeli relationship and officials inside the country. “Well Masada was too hot, so we found a great spot instead for POTUS,” Eitan Weiss, deputy spokesperson for the Israeli Foreign Ministry tweeted, appearing to mock the reason for the cancellation. “@IsraelMuseum. The Dead Sea Scrolls make an important setting.” 
   
   Another Twitter user joked : “Trump is going to move the U.S. embassy to Masada,” referencing the consideration the president is giving to moving Washington’s diplomatic representation from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. 
   
   Read more: Trump ISIS leak to Russia threatens Israel-U.S. intelligence sharing 
   
   Martin Indyk, former U.S. ambassador to Israel, tweeted that a raft of decisions on the Trump administration in regard to the visit has “soured” Israel’s mood. As well as the Masada cancellation, Trump will only spend 15 minutes at the national Holocaust memorial Yad Vashem, a move likely to offend the Israelis. 
   
   Menahem Kahana/AFP/Getty 
   
   Ahead of the visit, a member of Trump’s diplomatic staff told the Israelis that the Western Wall was in the West Bank and they did not want Netanyahu to accompany Trump on his visit to the site. The declaration sparked Israel’s anger and a call from the government for an explanation from the White House, which subsequently said that this was not Trump’s position. 
   
   It will be the first visit by a sitting U.S. president to the Western Wall (Barack Obama only visited the site as a presidential candidate). 
   
   Israel considers the site to be the nearest to the holiest landmark in Judaism—the Temple Mount—where Israelis can pray, to be part of Jerusalem and, therefore, Israel. Jews cannot pray at the Temple Mount, which is controled by a Jordanian-Palestinian Islamic Waqf, or trust. 
   
   But the wall sits in the old city of East Jerusalem, a territory Israel occupied in the 1967 Six-Day War, and therefore land that much of the international community, including the U.S., does not recognize as Israel’s. 
   
   Jim Watson/AFP/Getty
target: – "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.)