Headlines
Pope Francis, a Trump critic, meets US VP Vance on Easter morning
Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on April 20, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 24, 2026
Global Banking & Finance Review®
Company
Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on April 20, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 24, 2026
Pope Francis met US VP JD Vance at the Vatican on Easter, discussing Trump's immigration policies. The Pope criticized these policies, calling them a 'disgrace'.
By Joshua McElwee
VATICAN CITY (Reuters) -Pope Francis held a private meeting at the Vatican on Sunday morning with U.S. Vice President JD Vance, the Vatican said in a statement.
Vance, a Catholic who has clashed with the pontiff over the Trump administration's immigration policies, met Francis at his Vatican residence to exchange Easter greetings, the statement said.
"Pope Francis had a brief private encounter ... lasting a few minutes, in order to exchange good wishes on Easter day," said the statement. After Easter Mass, the pope later appeared in St. Peter's Square to greet crowds in an open-air popemobile.
Vance's office issued a brief statement confirming the meeting, but offered no further details.
The vice president, who has been visiting Italy with his family this weekend, met senior Vatican officials for more formal talks on Saturday. The pope, who is recovering from double pneumonia, did not take part in those discussions.
The pope and Vatican officials have criticised several of the policies of President Donald Trump's administration, including his plans to deport millions of migrants from the U.S. and his widespread cuts to foreign aid and domestic welfare programmes.
Francis has called the immigration crackdown a "disgrace". Vance, who became Catholic in 2019, has cited medieval-era Catholic teaching to justify the policy.
The pope rebutted the theological concept Vance used to defend the crackdown in an unusual open letter to the U.S. Catholic bishops about the Trump administration in February, and called Trump's plan a "major crisis" for the United States.
(Reporting by Joshua McElwee; Additional reporting by Nandita Bose in Washington; Editing by Andrew Heavens, Helen Popper and Ros Russell)
The main topic is the meeting between Pope Francis and US Vice President JD Vance at the Vatican on Easter morning.
They exchanged Easter greetings and discussed Trump's immigration policies, which the Pope has criticized.
The meeting is significant due to previous clashes between Vance and the Pope over US immigration policies.
Explore more articles in the Headlines category
