Ironically, the woman that Melanie Trump considered her "first lady" ideology - Jackie Kennedy - has yet another thing in common with her aspiration. When Mrs. Trump first spoke of the possibility of living in the White House, she made it no secret that she was intent on embracing the more "traditional role" embodied by Mrs. Kennedy. Moreover, Mrs. Trump has even set a more modern flair to the spirit of Jackie O's fashion sense; several sources drew parallels throughout the Inauguration event.
Recently, the current first lady has herself revealed yet another parallel - that is, the fact that Melania is Roman Catholic.
John F. Kennedy is known as being the first and, until now, singular, Roman Catholic president. In the same vein as Trump, however, he did not wish to see his sectarian beliefs become a hindrance to religious freedom in the country. While he was personally Catholic, he opposed a deviance from the "separation of church and state" context so fundamentally unique and liberating in this country's founding:
"But because I am a Catholic, and no Catholic has ever been elected president, the real issues in this campaign have been obscured — perhaps deliberately, in some quarters less responsible than this. So it is apparently necessary for me to state once again not what kind of church I believe in — for that should be important only to me — but what kind of America I believe in.
I believe in an America where the separation of church and state is absolute, where no Catholic prelate would tell the president (should he be Catholic) how to act, and no Protestant minister would tell his parishioners for whom to vote; where no church or church school is granted any public funds or political preference; and where no man is denied public office merely because his religion differs from the president who might appoint him or the people who might elect him."
While President Kennedy advocated religious freedom, he objected to a single denomination's power in legislation over another:
"I believe in an America that is officially neither Catholic, Protestant nor Jewish; where no public official either requests or accepts instructions on public policy from the Pope, the National Council of Churches or any other ecclesiastical source; where no religious body seeks to impose its will directly or indirectly upon the general populace or the public acts of its officials; and where religious liberty is so indivisible that an act against one church is treated as an act against all."
Melania's denominational devotion has, particularly of late, surfaced to public attention. She was seen in her very recent visit to the Pope with her husband dressed appropriately in black veil and attire, and was noted in silent prayer before a statue of the Virgin Mary.
Lastly, both first ladies transcended denomination by way of marriage. While Mrs. Kennedy accepted the Catholic faith along with her first husband, her second involved intermarriage with a Greek Orthodox member. In the same way, Donald J. Trump is an outspoken Presbyterian. It will be interesting to note the unfolding resemblances; will there, indeed, be another Camelot?
