TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Pope Francis, a Trump critic, meets VP Vance
Vance, a Catholic who has clashed with the pontiff over the Trump administration's immigration policies, met Francis at his Vatican residence to exchange Easter greetings, the statement said.
Change text size
Gift Premium Articles
to Anyone
Share the best of The Jakarta Post with friends, family, or colleagues. As a subscriber, you can gift 3 to 5 articles each month that anyone can read—no subscription needed!
This photo taken and handout on April 20, 2025 by The Vatican Media shows Pope Francis meeting with US Vice-President JD Vance in The Vatican. (AFP/Handout)
P
ope Francis held a private meeting at the Vatican on Sunday morning with US Vice President JD Vance, the Vatican said in a statement.
Vance, a Catholic who has clashed with the pontiff over the Trump administration's immigration policies, met Francis at his Vatican residence to exchange Easter greetings, the statement said.
"Pope Francis had a brief private encounter ... lasting a few minutes, in order to exchange good wishes on Easter day," said the statement. After Easter Mass, the pope later appeared in St. Peter's Square to greet crowds in an open-air popemobile.
Vance's office issued a brief statement confirming the meeting, but offered no further details.
The vice president, who has been visiting Italy with his family this weekend, met senior Vatican officials for more formal talks on Saturday. The pope, who is recovering from double pneumonia, did not take part in those discussions.
The pope and Vatican officials have criticised several of the policies of President Donald Trump's administration, including his plans to deport millions of migrants from the US and his widespread cuts to foreign aid and domestic welfare programmes.
Francis has called the immigration crackdown a "disgrace". Vance, who became Catholic in 2019, has cited medieval-era Catholic teaching to justify the policy.
The pope rebutted the theological concept Vance used to defend the crackdown in an unusual open letter to the US Catholic bishops about the Trump administration in February, and called Trump's plan a "major crisis" for the United States.
On Saturday, Vance met the Vatican's second-highest official, discussing the thorny issue of refugees.
Vance and his delegation held "cordial talks" with the Vatican's secretary of state, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, and Paul Richard Gallagher, the Holy See's secretary for relations with states, according to a Vatican statement.
The late morning meeting came just a day after Vance met Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and discussed US President Donald Trump's trade tariffs.
