While President Trump was in Rome, there was some interesting news concerning Melania Trump:

• She asked Pope Francis to bless her rosary. (One of mine was blessed by Pope Saint John Paul II)
• She spent time in Marian Adoration at a Catholic children’s hospital in Rome.
• She wore a chapel veil when at the Papal audience.

Someone finally asked the obvious question:

When Melania Trump recited The Lord’s Prayer before a Melbourne, Florida presidential rally in February, the Internet went hog wild.

Now we know one reason why the first lady began with ‘Let us pray’ and ‘Our Father who art in heaven’ when she introduced the president that evening: She’s a practicing Roman Catholic.

Her spokeswoman Stephanie Grisham confirmed that to DailyMail.com on Wednesday, hours after Pope Francis blessed a rosary for her at the Vatican.

Naturally, THERE ARE QUESTIONS.

It’s unclear when Mrs. Trump became a Catholic. The president is a life-long Presbyterian, and they were married in a Florida Episcopal church.

Growing up as the daughter of a Communist Party member in rural Slovenia, her family maintained the outward appearances of being atheists, according to people in her childhood village of Sevnica who spoke to DailyMail.com in late 2015.

Accordingly, Melania and her sister were not baptized and did not make their First Holy Communion with other children their age.

It’s still not clear when Mrs. Trump was baptized into the Catholic faith. Grisham did not immediately respond to a question about that detail.

I don’t find this line of inquiry to be all that productive. Melania’s father was a Communist apparatchik. Whether he was a true believer or a time server is irrelevant as his wife and children being overtly religious would have put his job in jeopardy. Though you can bet that even as we speak, there are reporters tracking down Melania’s baptismal and confirmation records and trying to find a priest to whom she has made confession. And, of course, no commentary could be complete without this

https://twitter.com/ezlusztig/status/867308757025476608

If Melania’s example of piety at the Vatican convinces even one person that being a public and out Catholic is cool, I’ll accept whatever irregularities exist in her Catholicism.