JD Vance meets Pope Francis ahead of Easter Message urging compassion for migrants

The brief but symbolic meeting drew global attention after a public row over the pope’s outspoken recent criticism of US immigration policies.

Pope Francis receives JD Vance, before bestowing the Urbi et Orbi blessing at the end of the Easter mass. Picture: Vatican Media via AP, HO.

Pope Francis met briefly Sunday with Vice President JD Vance, the Vatican said, before the pontiff in his Easter message called for better treatment of migrants and other vulnerable and marginalised people and urged a “just and lasting peace” in Ukraine.

The brief but symbolic meeting showed a desire by the Vatican and the White House to ease tensions after a public row earlier this year over the Trump administration’s plans for large-scale deportations of immigrants.

Also on Sunday, the Pope – still frail after a near-fatal bout of pneumonia this winter – called for a ceasefire in Gaza and for an end to the wars in Ukraine and Sudan.

“I would like us to renew our hope that peace is possible,” Pope Francis said in a message read out by an aide to a crowd gathered in St. Peter’s Square.

The meeting between Francis and Vance drew global attention because of the pope’s outspoken recent criticism of US immigration policies.

Francis said early this year that Trump’s mass deportation plan “damages the dignity of many men and women.” His remarks didn’t go down well with the new administration, with Trump’s border tsar, Tom Homan, inviting the pope to “stick to the Catholic Church and fix that and leave border enforcement to us.” The pope condemned hard-line immigration policies again in his Easter message: “How much contempt is stirred up at times towards the vulnerable, the marginalised, and migrants!” The 88-year-old pope’s meeting with Vance, a convert to Catholicism in 2019, lasted only a few minutes and they exchanged Easter greetings, the Vatican said.

Pope Francis meets JD Vance in The Vatican. Picture; AFP.

Vance had a longer meeting at the Vatican on Saturday with the pope’s second in command, Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin. The Vatican said they had a cordial “exchange of opinions” on immigration and other issues.

The pope has previously slapped down Vance for misreading Christian doctrine to justify the administration’s immigration policies. Vance had spoken of concentric circles of love, with the family at the centre. “Then you love your fellow citizens in your own country, and then after that, you can focus and prioritise the rest of the world,” Vance said.

In a letter to U.S. bishops in February, the pope said Vance was wrong in his interpretation of the theological concept of “ordo amoris,” or order of love. “Christian love is not a concentric expansion of interests that little by little extend to other persons and groups,” the pope wrote. “The true ordo amoris that must be promoted is that which we discover by meditating constantly on the parable of the ‘Good Samaritan, ’ that is, by meditating on the love that builds a fraternity open to all, without exception.” Vance said his intention hadn’t been to litigate with the pope. “I was certainly surprised when he criticised our immigration policy in the way that he has,” he said at the time.

Vance received a warmer reception on Friday from Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who is emerging as the Trump administration’s favourite European interlocutor. “I’m grateful to be in the presence of a dear friend in a beautiful place,” Vance said before he had lunch with the right-wing Italian leader.

JD Vance as he arrives with his family at the Vatican prior to a meeting with Cardinal Pietro Parolin and Archbishop Paul Gallagher. Picture: AFP.

Vance’s trip to Rome was his first visit to Europe since mid-February, when he lambasted the continent’s governments in a blistering speech at the Munich Security Conference that rattled European leaders and highlighted the depth of mistrust between the Trump-led U.S. and many of its European allies.

Meloni has worked to keep the trans-Atlantic alliance intact, studiously refraining from criticising the Trump administration and urging her European colleagues to do the same. That strategy has helped Meloni curry favour in Washington. She met with Trump at the White House on Thursday, the first European leader to have a face-to-face conversation since Trump announced sweeping tariffs on trade partners.

Meloni is using her special relationship to try to advance talks for a trade deal between the U.S. and the European Union. During Thursday’s meeting with Meloni, Trump agreed to come to Rome on an official visit in the near future, although he hasn’t yet agreed to meet with other EU leaders on that occasion as Meloni has proposed.

Vance’s trip to Rome was part official visit, part family vacation. The city was repeatedly gridlocked as the vice president – accompanied by his wife, their three children and a long convoy of cars – zipped between meetings and Roman tourist sites.

Italian media dubbed the visit Vance’s “Roman Holiday” after the 1953 Audrey Hepburn movie. The Colosseum, the city’s most famous landmark monument, closed early to the public on Saturday for Vance’s family, provoking the ire of some tourists.

Dow Jones