Trump and his wife Melania on Tuesday laid a wreath at a monument to the late pontiff in front of the St. John Paul II National Shrine in Washington, the Polish state news agency reported.
Last month marked a century since John Paul II was born in the southern Polish town of Wadowice on May 18, 1920.
John Paul II served as pope from October 16, 1978 until his death on April 2, 2005.
He was the third longest-serving pontiff in history.
Polish President Andrzej Duda last month hailed John Paul II as a “pope of freedom and solidarity” and one of the most important figures of the 20th century.
Trump last year hailed the Polish-born pope as “a champion for human dignity and religious liberty” and said that the pontiff’s 1979 trip to his native Poland "helped tear down the Iron Curtain of communism in Europe."
Photo: PAP/EPA/CHRIS KLEPONIS
According to US broadcaster CNN, Trump's photo-op outside the Washington shrine on Tuesday marked his second visit to a religious site in as many days and drew some sharp rebukes.
The visit came after protesters including some clergymen "were pushed back using tear gas and flash bangs" during incidents in the US capital, CNN reported.
Ahead of the visit, Washington Archbishop Wilton D. Gregory released a sharply worded statement criticizing Trump and the shrine for hosting him, CNN said on its website.
A statue of Polish and American independence hero Tadeusz Kościuszko was vandalized in Washington during protests over the death of a black man in police custody, the PAP news agency reported on Monday.
(gs/pk)
Source: PAP, cnn.com