WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance shared tributes to Pope Francis early Monday morning just hours after the Vatican announced the death of the longtime pontiff.
In a brief missive posted to Truth Social on Monday, Trump wrote: “Rest in Peace Pope Francis! May God Bless him and all who loved him!” Trump later ordered flags to be flown at half-staff at the White House and other federal buildings.
Vance had similar sentiments, and shared a link to a religious speech the pope shared during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“My heart goes out to the millions of Christians all over the world who loved him,” Vance wrote, adding that the homily “was really quite beautiful. May God rest his soul.”
The pope’s death comes after Vance visited with him over the weekend for the Easter holiday. Vance said he was “happy to see him” before his death but acknowledged Pope Francis “was obviously very ill” during their meeting.
Francis had been recovering from a case of life-threatening pneumonia, which hospitalized him earlier this year. As the pontiff met with Vance on Sunday, the pope greeted him with a weak and raspy voice inside a Vatican hotel reception room.
“I know you have not been feeling great but it’s good to see you in better health,” Vance told the pope. “Thank you for seeing me.”
The meeting came as Pope Francis had recently criticized the Trump administration’s deportation policies and advised Catholics not to engage in anti-immigrant rhetoric.
In the open letter to American bishops in February, Francis appeared to respond to comments by Vance — who was baptized and confirmed in the Catholic Church in August 2019 — in which the vice president justified the Trump administration’s deportation policies by pointing to the medieval Catholic concept of “ordo amoris.”
The theological concept outlines a hierarchy of love that focuses on God as the main priority followed by other focuses.
“You love your family, and then you love your neighbor, and then you love your community, and then you love your fellow citizens in your own country,” Vance told Fox News in January explaining the concept. “And then after that, you can focus and prioritize the rest of the world.”
The pope pushed back on that theology in February’s open letter, arguing “the true ordo amoris that must be promoted (is) love that builds a fraternity open to all, without exception.”
On Sunday, Francis wrote in an Easter message: “How much contempt is stirred up at times towards the vulnerable, the marginalized, and migrants!”
With Francis’s death, the Catholic Church will soon summon cardinals to Rome for a conclave to elect his successor. In the meantime, the College of Cardinals will be tasked with general oversight of the church, but they will not be permitted to make any major decisions.
A funeral date has not yet been scheduled but a public viewing for the pope could begin as early as Wednesday morning, according to the Vatican.