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Vance attended a Good Friday service at St. Peter’s Basilica while visiting Rome with his family. On Saturday, April 19, he met with Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Holy See’s Secretary of State, and Archbishop Paul Gallagher, the Vatican’s foreign minister, CNN reported.
The officials discussed President Donald Trump’s immigration policies. Pope Francis has publicly opposed Trump and Vance over the stricter measures and penalties.
The pontiff was not present at the meeting. The 88-year-old has been gravely ill after contracting double pneumonia in February.
“There was an exchange of opinions on the international situation,” the Vatican’s statement read, per Politico, “especially regarding countries affected by war, political tensions and difficult humanitarian situations, with particular attention to migrants, refugees, and prisoners.”
The U.S. press release framed the meeting as more cordial.
The White House said Vance and Parolin “discussed their shared religious faith, Catholicism in the United States, the plight of persecuted Christian communities around the world, and President Trump’s commitment to restoring world peace," Politico reported.
Vance, who converted to Catholicism in 2019, defended the administration's deportation policies by invoking “ordo amoris,” a Latin phrase meaning “order of love,” according to NPR. He was responding to criticism over remarks made in a Fox News interview.
“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," he told Sean Hannity in January. "And then after that, you can focus and prioritize the rest of the world.” He claimed that the “far left” has inverted that."
However, before Pope Francis fell ill, he offered a contrasting interpretation.
“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,” the pope wrote in a letter to U.S. bishops, CNN reported.
The Vatican has also expressed concern over Elon Musk and DOGE's efforts to gut USAID funding, warning that millions worldwide rely on life-sustaining American aid programs.
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