Pope Francis shared his prayers and extended ‘cordial greetings’ to President-elect Trump ahead of his inaugural ceremony Monday morning.

‘I ask God to guide your efforts in promoting peace and reconciliation among peoples,’ Pope Francis said in a message addressed to the president-elect.

‘On the occasion of your inauguration as the forty-seventh President of the United States of America, I offer cordial greetings and the assurance of my prayers that Almighty God will grant you wisdom, strength, and protection in the exercise of your high duties,’ his message read.

‘Inspired by your nation’s ideals of being a land of opportunity and welcome for all, it is my hope that under your leadership the American people will prosper and always strive to build a more just society, where there is no room for hatred, discrimination or exclusion.’

Pope Francis continued on to ‘ask God to guide your efforts in promoting peace and reconciliation among peoples’ amid ‘numerous challenges’ and ‘the scourge of war.’

‘With these sentiments,’ Pope Francis continued, ‘I invoke upon you, your family, and the beloved American people an abundance of divine blessings.’

Pope Francis criticized Trump’s deportation policy just one day prior, saying Sunday on an evening television program, ‘If true, this will be a disgrace.’

‘This won’t do. This is not the way to solve things. That’s not how things are resolved,’ the pope said of Trump’s planned deportations.

Trump’s incoming administration is said to be eyeing immigration arrests of illegal immigrants across the country as soon as day one, as top officials say they are ready to ‘take the handcuffs off’ Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

The pope also recently cited ‘fake news’ as the root cause of Trump’s assassination attempts last year. 

During the pontiff’s annual ‘state of the world’ address earlier this month, Francis pointed to ‘fake news’ as the root of division and distrust in society that ultimately led to two attempts on Trump’s life in 2024. 

‘This phenomenon generates false images of reality, a climate of suspicion that foments hate, undermines people’s sense of security, and compromises civil coexistence and the stability of entire nations. Tragic examples of this are the attacks on the chairman of the government of the Slovak Republic and the president-elect of the United States of America,’ he said.

Fox News Digital’s Adam Shaw, Gabriel Hays and the Associated Press contributed to this report. 

Republican lawmakers are reacting furiously to President Biden’s 11th-hour decision to pardon several allies who President-elect Trump and his circle have threatened retribution against, made hours before ceding power to the new commander in chief.

‘Implication is that they needed the pardons,’ Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, wrote on X, formerly Twitter. ‘So, let’s call them all before Congress and demand the truth. If they refuse or lie – let’s test the constitutional ‘reach’ of these pardons with regard to their future actions.’

Biden announced early on Monday that he was issuing preemptive pardons for Dr. Anthony Fauci, retired Gen. Mark Milley, and members and staff of the now-defunct House select committee on the Jan. 6 Capitol attack.

Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., now the chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee after Republicans swept the Senate and White House in November, pledged to investigate Fauci in particular with his new leadership power. Fauci has already been the subject of multiple inquiries and public attacks by Paul, who accused him of mismanaging the COVID-19 pandemic, along with other government officials. Fauci has consistently defended his actions, stating that they were solely guided by science.

‘If there was ever any doubt as to who bears responsibility for the COVID pandemic, Biden’s pardon of Fauci forever seals the deal. As Chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, I will not rest until the entire truth of the coverup is exposed,’ Paul wrote on X. ‘Fauci’s pardon will only serve as an accelerant to pierce the veil of deception.’

Rep. Andrew Clyde, R-Ga., said in his own statement: ‘Joe Biden just issued preemptive pardons for Mark Milley, Anthony Fauci, and Members of Congress and staff of the sham J6 Committee. In its final hours, the most CORRUPT Administration in American history is covering up Democrats’ trail of criminal activity.’

‘Sneaking this through in the last hours of his presidency only makes them look more guilty. What’s he so desperate to hide? It’s been clear to any honest observer that there is plenty to investigate,’ said Rep. Doug LaMalfa, R-Calif., chairman of the House Western Caucus.

On the other side of the aisle, Rep. Brendan Boyle, D-Pa., the top Democrat on the House Budget Committee, praised the decision and accused Trump of abusing his power.

‘As someone who strongly advocated for these pardons, I applaud President Biden for making this bold and righteous decision. Trump has repeatedly abused power to serve his own interests and threatened to punish his political opponents,’ Boyle said in a statement. ‘These pardons are essential to protecting the public servants and law enforcement who defended our democracy and worked tirelessly to keep us safe.’

Trump has previously threatened retribution against his critics when he returned to the White House, though he’s also clarified at times that he believed his second term would be retribution enough.

Rep. Barry Loudermilk, R-Ga., who leads a subcommittee investigating the Jan. 6 committee’s probe, called for the criminal prosecution of the former panel’s vice chair, ex-Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., in a 128-page report. Cheney said the report ‘intentionally disregards the truth and the Select Committee’s tremendous weight of evidence, and instead fabricates lies and defamatory allegations in an attempt to cover up what Donald Trump did.’

The incoming president has pardoned political allies like Paul Manafort and Michael Flynn, though unlike Biden’s latest decision, both were charged by the Department of Justice (DOJ) when those pardons were issued.

There is precedent for preemptive pardons, however. Former President Gerald Ford preemptively pardoned Richard Nixon after the Watergate scandal.

Fauci said in a statement regarding the pardon, ‘Despite the accomplishments that my colleagues and I achieved over my long career of public service, I have been the subject of politically motivated threats of investigation and prosecution. There is absolutely no basis for these threats. Let me be perfectly clear: I have committed no crime and there are no possible grounds for any allegation or threat of criminal investigation or prosecution of me. The fact is, however, that the mere articulation of these baseless threats, and the potential that they will be acted upon, create immeasurable and intolerable distress for me and my family. For these reasons, I acknowledge and appreciate the action that President Biden has taken today on my behalf.’

Milley said he and his family were ‘deeply grateful’ for Biden’s decision.

‘After forty-three years of faithful service in uniform to our Nation, protecting and defending the Constitution, I do not wish to spend whatever remaining time the Lord grants me fighting those who unjustly might seek retribution for perceived slights. I do not want to put my family, my friends, and those with whom I served through the resulting distraction, expense, and anxiety,’ Milley said. ‘It has been an honor and a privilege to serve our great country in uniform for over four decades, and I will continue to keep faith and loyalty to our nation and Constitution until my dying breath.’

Fox News Digital has reached out to the members of the Jan. 6 committee who are still serving in Congress for comment. 

Fox News’ Jennifer Griffin contributed to this report

President Biden plans to leave a letter to President-elect Trump before he departs the White House, according to a report, continuing the modern presidential tradition that first began with President Ronald Reagan.

Biden is expected to leave a note for his successor on the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office, CNN first reported.

Fox News Digital reached out to the White House for confirmation but did not immediately hear back.

Four years after succeeding Trump, Biden finds himself in the unique position, in both history and politics, of writing a letter to his successor who left a note for him four years ago.

Despite a history of bucking tradition during his first term as president, like attending Biden’s inauguration, Trump curiously continued this rite of presidential passage by writing a letter to Biden.

Biden said it was a ‘very generous letter,’ but has so far declined to share the content of what Trump wrote, deeming it private and saying he wouldn’t discuss it until he had a chance to speak with Trump. 

Trump has also declined to share details, saying he thought it was up to Biden to share the letter.

‘It was a nice note,’ Trump said during a September 2023 interview with NBC’s ‘Meet the Press,’ adding, ‘I took a lot of time in thinking about it.’

Trump had received what he has described as a ‘beautiful letter’ from his predecessor, President Barack Obama. 

Obama told Trump they were both blessed with good fortune, that American leadership ‘really is indispensable’ in the world, that they are the ‘guardians’ of democratic institutions and traditions, and that family and friends will see him through the ‘inevitable rough patches.’

When Trump takes office on Monday, he’ll be the first president to serve nonconsecutive terms since Grover Cleveland in the late 1800s, when the letter-writing tradition didn’t exist.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Supporters of Donald Trump massed in the nation’s capital this weekend to welcome back the president-elect – enduring lengthy drives, hours-long lines and punishing winter weather for a chance to share in Trump’s second win. 

Fox News Digital spoke to dozens of Trump backers who massed in and around the Capital One arena in Washington, D.C., to attend the ‘Make America Great Again’ rally hosted by the president-elect Sunday night. 

The free event was a victory lap, both for the president and for his longtime fans. Rally-goers descended into Washington in droves – among the dozens of attendees interviewed, few were from the D.C.-area – but saw their endurance tested by the sheets of rain, sleet and snow that came in waves as temperatures plummeted, prompting D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser to activate a city-wide hypothermia alert.

Lines to get in the door wrapped around city blocks and weaved through miles of 10-foot fencing designed to block off roads and bolster security. Wait times were upward of three hours, according to some attendees. 

One Indiana man who drove from the Hoosier State to D.C. for the rally said he camped out at 10 p.m. Saturday before the rally Sunday afternoon. In an interview with Fox News, he said he had no regrets about his decision – gesturing to the plum post he had secured, right next to the stage. 

He also wasn’t alone. Some 100 others had also opted to camp out, he estimated in the interview – a sense of camaraderie and commitment that was starkly on display in the Sunday rally. 

Though the event itself was held inside, the lines were massive, stretching as far as the eye could see, and subjecting all but a few donors and VIPs to hours of winding lines in the bitter winter cold.

Not one of the supporters interviewed expressed any regrets about the cold they endured – even the people who had waited upward of nine hours to get in the door. 

‘I’m just happy to be here,’ one woman said alongside her partner, one of the last groups admitted into the rally, nearly six hours after doors opened to the public. 

The speech was Trump’s first in D.C. since Jan. 6, 2021. It saw a hodgepodge of performers with little in common: Two women who dubbed themselves ‘Girls Gone Bible’ led the audience in a lengthy prayer for Trump, before Kid Rock jumped onstage for a raucous musical performance. 

Other speakers included Stephen Miller, who offered policy-focused remarks, UFC President and CEO Dana White, whose fiery remarks riled up the group, and Donald Trump Jr., whose children led the rally-goers in the Pledge of Allegiance before Trump took the stage.

But if crowd size is to be measured as a sign of success, as Trump so often appears to see it, then his second term is poised to be met with sweeping approval from his base.

‘I’d do it again,’ one Florida woman told Fox News Digital of the lines, crowds and stamina required for the duration of the hours-long rally. ‘I have no regrets.’

Soon-to-be first lady Melania Trump was donning a dark navy coat, dark navy hat with a white stripe, dark navy heels and black gloves as she and her husband, President-elect Donald Trump, left St. John’s Episcopal Church after a prayer service ahead of the inauguration.

Melania’s outfit is fitting for the cold weather currently in Washington, D.C., which has moved the inauguration indoors to the Capitol Rotunda for the first time in 40 years.

The couple has been welcomed by President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden, where they will share tea and coffee at the White House.

‘Welcome home,’ Biden said to Trump after the president-elect stepped out of the car.

While tea is a presidential transition tradition, it is a stark departure from four years ago, when Trump refused to acknowledge Biden’s victory or attend his inauguration.

Melania, a Slovenian American former model, attracted attention during the first Trump administration for her striking style sense. French designer Hervé Pierre created her 2017 inaugural ball gown that is now on display at the National Museum of American History, according to the Smithsonian. 

Pierre has served as a stylist for first ladies in the White House since the 1990s, the South China Morning Post reports.  

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

President-elect Donald Trump’s former chief strategist, Steve Bannon, reportedly is warning of an impending world conflict that could equate to ‘Trump’s Vietnam.’ 

The ‘War Room’ host has been using his daily radio show and podcast to advocate that Trump make an announcement on ‘Day One’ that he will end the war in Ukraine quickly. 

In an interview with Politico, Bannon said he is aggressively urging that Trump do so in his Inauguration Day speech, warning that the soon-to-be 47th president could be entrapped by the U.S. defense industry, the Europeans and even some of Bannon’s own friends, who he says have teamed up to push the United States to continue sending military aid to Ukraine. That includes Keith Kellogg, a retired U.S. general who Trump tapped to become special envoy to Ukraine and Russia. 

Though friends, Bannon says Kellogg is misguided in pushing that the U.S. continue sending aid to Ukraine while an agreement is sorted that includes security guarantees that make certain Russia will not launch another invasion. 

A further delay in ending the three-year conflict, Bannon countered, risks the United States being pulled deeper into a war that cannot be won and runs counter to American national interests.

‘If we aren’t careful, it will turn into Trump’s Vietnam,’ Bannon said. ‘That’s what happened to Richard Nixon. He ended up owning the war, and it went down as his war, not Lyndon Johnson’s.’ 

‘I’m going nuts right now to make sure there’s something on Monday, an announcement,’ he added. ‘Because you have Kellogg saying it will take 100 days, the old foreign policy establishment are saying six months.’ 

Bannon reportedly said Trump must communicate to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy that ‘there’s a new sheriff in town, and we’re going to get a deal done, and we’re going to get it done quickly.’ 

He added that Zelenskyy ought to pay attention to how Trump pressured Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu into accepting the terms of a cease-fire and hostage release deal with Hamas before the president-elect takes office.

Bannon lamented to Politico how he views NATO as having morphed into more of an American protectorate than an alliance. 

‘If you look at NATO, I don’t think it can put together two combat divisions of Europeans that are ready to fight,’ Bannon said. ‘Europe has gotten away with early retirement and full health care because they don’t pay for their own defense.’ 

As for Russian leader Vladimir Putin, Bannon continued, ‘Putin’s a bad guy. He’s a very bad guy. The KGB are bad guys. But I don’t stay up at night worrying about Russian influence on Europe.’ 

‘Number 1, their military hasn’t even got to Kyiv. In three years, they couldn’t get there,’ Bannon said. ‘They haven’t taken Kharkiv even. You know why I don’t stay awake at night? Because the Europeans don’t stay awake at night. They don’t consider Russia a real threat. If they did, they would throw a lot more money and troops into the game.’ 

Bannon, who said he supports Trump’s proposals for the U.S. to gain control of Greenland and the Panama Canal, both in his eyes crucial to U.S. national security, then turned back to Europe. 

He called former British Conservative leader Boris Johnson a ‘war criminal,’ adding that he believes too many European leaders consider themselves the Winston Churchill of their day. ‘The Ukraine war is the central screw-up of Europe over the last couple of years,’ Bannon told Politico. ‘You have a million dead or wounded Ukrainians. And we’re going to end up, best case, we’re going to end up exactly where this thing started, as I said three years ago. And it’s because you have Boris Johnson and [French President Emmanuel] Macron, all these fantasists that won’t pay for their own defense. They want to be big shots. They all want to be Winston Churchill with other people’s money and other people’s lives.’