Pope Meets With JD Vance After Criticism of Trump Administration

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 those remarks, the pope appeared to give a riposte to Mr.

Vance, who has defended the deportation policies by referring to the Ch...