- Vice President JD Vance met with Pope Leo XIV on Monday, after the pontiff's inaugural remarks on Sunday.
- The White House hopes for a "reset" in relations with the Vatican. Pope Francis had previously contradicted Vance on Catholic doctrine.
- Both the White House and the Vatican reported positively on the meeting.
Vice President JD Vance officially invited Pope Leo XIV to the White House, following a “cordial” conversation between the two men on Monday at the Vatican.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio was also at the meeting, and Vance passed on a letter to the new pope from President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump.
Per The Associated Press, the new pope received the invitation well and promised to visit “at some point.”
Vance, who is Catholic, also gave the pope, who belongs to the Augustinian sect of Catholics, two of St. Augustine’s doctrinal expositions and a Chicago Bears T-shirt with Pope Leo’s name. Pope Leo was born in 1955 in Chicago as Robert Prevost.
“As you can probably imagine, people in the United States are extremely excited about you,” Vance told the pope during the gift exchange.
In return, Pope Leo gave him a picture book of the papal apartments in the apostolic palace and a bronze sculpture bearing the legend: “Peace is a fragile flower.”
Vance’s history with the papacy
Vance joined the Catholic church in 2019 after a period of faith exploration. He has since spoken prominently about his faith and how it informs his worldview, including his political stances.
There has been speculation about Vance’s relationship with the previous pope, Pope Francis, who wrote a letter to American bishops in February where he criticized the Trump administration’s mass deportation plans and spoke about the meaning of Christian love, saying it 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 is that which we discover by meditating constantly on the parable of the ‘Good Samaritan.’"
The letter did not specifically name Vance, but it followed on the heels of Vance using the phrase to describe a hierarchy of obligations.
“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, and then after that you can focus and prioritize the rest of the world,” he said.
Vance visited Pope Francis on Easter, hours before Pope Francis died.
The Trump administration, including Vance and Rubio, now hope to “reset” relations with the Holy See.
The future of Vatican-American relations
Pope Leo XIV called for peace across the world, including in Gaza and Ukraine.
The Trump administration has spent much of its efforts abroad on resolving the conflicts in Gaza and Ukraine.
“Where I think President Trump’s policy is most in accord with Christian social teaching and with the Catholic faith is that more than any president of my lifetime, President Trump has pursued a path of peace,” Vance said during the National Catholic Prayer Breakfast earlier this year.
Pope Leo also said in his inaugural remarks that his life has been defined by his “aspiration to transcend borders” and subsequently called for “respect for the dignity of every person,” including “citizens and immigrants alike.”
Rubio insisted that these remarks are not incompatible with the Trump administration, which has fought to contain immigration and deport migrants in the country illegally.
“There is not incompatibility,” Rubio said. “I would argue there’s nothing compassionate about mass migration. There’s nothing compassionate about open borders that allows people to be trafficked here.”