Vice President JD Vance sat down with Pope Francis on Sunday morning and exchanged Easter greetings in a previously unannounced meeting following the pair’s long-distance clash over President Donald Trump and his administration’s handling of immigrant deportation plans.
According to Politico, Vance’s motorcade entered Vatican City through a side gate and parked near Francis’ hotel residence while Mass was being celebrated in St. Peter’s Square. The pope, who has greatly cut back his workload to recover from a near-fatal case of double pneumonia in February, met with the vice president for a few minutes at the Domus Santa Marta.
Vance, who was baptized as a Catholic six years ago, has been in Rome for the weekend to celebrate the holiday and visit with Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni and leaders within the Vatican. His wife, Usha Vance, is there as well.
The Sunday meeting, which the Vatican called “brief,” comes after the pope called the US’s immigration crackdown a “disgrace” and criticized the policies of Trump’s administration, including deep cuts to foreign aid and social services.
VATICAN CITY, VATICAN – APRIL 20: (EDITOR NOTE: STRICTLY EDITORIAL USE ONLY – NO MERCHANDISING). Pope Francis meets with U.S. Vice President JD Vance and delegation during an audience at Casa Santa Marta on April 20, 2025 in Vatican City, Vatican. (Photo by Vatican Media via Vatican Pool/Getty Images)
Vatican Pool/Getty Images
Days before being hospitalized in February, Francis penned an open letter to American bishops urging them to reject anti-immigrant narratives—a decisive rebuke from the pope.
Deporting migrants who often come from difficult situations, Francis wrote, violates the “dignity of many men and women, and of entire families.”
The pontiff said he has “followed closely the major crisis that is taking place in the United States with the initiation of a program of mass deportations,” and believes that any policy built on force “begins badly and will end badly.”
In his letter, the pope specifically referenced Vance’s use of Catholic doctrine to justify the administration’s treatment of immigrants. In late January, the vice president invoked the concept of “ordo amoris,” a Christian motto that refers to how believers prioritize giving love and charity to others, when talking about immigration. He said that Americans ought to focus on family, neighbor, community, and “your fellow citizens in your own country,” before “you can focus and prioritize the rest of the world.”
The pope didn’t like that interpretation, writing, “Christian love is not a concentric expansion of interests that little by little extend to other persons and groups.” “The true ordo amoris that must be promoted,” he continued, is “love that builds a fraternity open to all, without exception.”
Vance later acknowledged Francis’ criticism during a late February appearance at the National Catholic Prayer Breakfast in Washington. Vance didn’t address the issue specifically—and has said he will continue to defend his views—but called himself a “baby Catholic” with “things about the faith that I don’t know.”
