Vice President JD Vance met Pope Francis on Easter Sunday, just hours before the pontiff’s death — making him one of the last visitors to see him.
Prior to meeting with the pontiff, Vance and his family were given a private tour of the Sistine Chapel.
The brief encounter between the two leaders was at the Vatican’s Casa Santa Marta residence, where Pope Francis, 88, was recovering from a severe bout of pneumonia and in a wheelchair.
The vice president, a convert to Roman Catholicism
since 2019, exchanged Easter greetings with the pope and received gifts for his children, including chocolate Easter eggs and rosaries.
The Vatican said in a statement that there was also “an exchange of opinions on the international situation, especially regarding countries affected by war, political tensions, and difficult humanitarian situations, with particular attention to migrants, refugees, and prisoners.”
“Finally, hope was expressed for serene collaboration between the State and the Catholic Church in the United States, whose valuable service to the most vulnerable people was acknowledged,” the statement read.
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