Pope Meets With JD Vance After Criticism of Trump Administration

The New York Times ^ | April 20, 2025, 8:21 a.m. ET | Emma Bubola

[E. Pluribus Unum]

Vice President JD Vance met with Pope Francis at the pontiff’s residence in Rome on Sunday, the Vatican said, in a previously unannounced visit during Easter celebrations.

The Vatican said the meeting was a “brief” exchange of Easter wishes that lasted “a few minutes.” In a photograph released by the Vatican, the pope is seated in a wheelchair opposite Mr. Vance as the pair talk.

The meeting came after the pope criticized the Trump administration’s deportation policies and urged Catholics to reject anti-immigrant narratives, in an unusually direct attack on the American government.

The rebuke came in the form of an open letter to American bishops in February, with some of the pope’s criticisms apparently leveled directly at statements made by Mr. Vance.

Mr. Vance, who was baptized as a Catholic six years ago, has been spending Holy Week in Rome with his family. He attended the Good Friday service in St. Peter’s Basilica. On Saturday, Mr. Vance met with Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican’s secretary of state, and with Archbishop Paul Gallagher, the Vatican’s foreign minister.

Mr. Vance had not been expected to meet the pope, who only recently left the hospital after spending five weeks there in serious condition. Francis has since made few public appearances.

The two met at Casa Santa Marta, the pope’s residency, as the Sunday mass continued in St Peter’s Square. Francis later appeared on the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica, waved at the tens of thousands gathered below, and wished them a happy Easter.

Before entering the hospital, the pope, a staunch advocate for migrants and refugees, had directed a sharp critique toward President Trump over his administration’s immigration policy, saying that deporting people come from difficult situations violates the “dignity of many men and women, and of entire families.”

In...

[Campion]

Re. What would it take for you to become a sedevacantist?

About 12 hours. :-)

[Campion]

Catholic Charities doesn’t support the Vatican. They get most of their money from tourism (pilgrims, museum admissions, etc. — all way down), stamp sales (don’t know how that’s doing), and the “Peter’s Pence” collection (way, way, down). The Vatican was struggling a bit financially before +Francis; now they’re in serious trouble.

[Campion]

This is proving to be a new source of money in the collection plates.

Importing poor people from Latin America who work at unskilled or semi-skilled manual labor jobs and often have a lot of kids to support won't put much money in the collection basket.

If money in the collection basket was the goal, recruit doctors, lawyers, and businessmen.

[jonrick46]

The collection plates are full where they come from.

[Campion]

I don’t believe you. Many places in Latin America, the Catholic churches are empty on Sunday (and the rest of the week).

[Repent and Believe]

I’m not sure what you are referring to, but maybe this applies:

If God has given mankind directives on sexuality, and warns of grave consequences when we neglect them, then should I not also, like He, show concern for those who relegate right and wrong merely as a private preference? As in concern for the future of their soul and the souls of those whom they will scandalize.
It then follows that it is found in holy scripture, that we should confess our sins to one another. That does not exclude private offenses against God’s word.

[frank ballenger]

I was just making a joke using the highly unusual word, that’s all. Not serious.