Vatican holds 'cordial' talks with Vance after criticisms of Trump policies

Source: Reuters

April 19, 2025 12:21 PM EDT Updated 25 min ago


VATICAN CITY, April 19 (Reuters) - U.S. Vice President JD Vance went to the Vatican on Saturday to meet senior Catholic Church officials who have been sharply critical of his administration's policies, in the first such in-person talks of the second Trump presidency. Vance, a Catholic who has clashed with Pope Francis over U.S. President Donald Trump's immigration crackdown, met with Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican's Secretary of State, and his chief deputy.

The two sides had "cordial talks" that included "an exchange of opinions on the international situation," according to a Vatican statement after the meeting. Vance and Parolin spoke "especially regarding countries affected by war, political tensions and difficult humanitarian situations, with particular attention to migrants, refugees, and prisoners," the statement read. Vance said in a statement that he and the cardinal had discussed Catholicism in the U.S., the issue of persecuted Christians in the world, and "President Trump's commitment to restoring world peace".

Francis, who is limiting his public appearances on doctors' orders as he recovers from double pneumonia, did not take part in the meeting. Vance is visiting Italy over the Easter weekend. The pope, Parolin and other Vatican officials have criticised several Trump administration policies, including Trump's plans to deport millions of migrants from the U.S. and his widespread cuts to foreign aid and domestic welfare programmes. "This visit takes place in a delicate moment," said Massimo Faggioli, an Italian academic at Villanova University who has followed the papacy closely. "This relationship with the U.S. is a very high priority right now for the Vatican."

Francis has called the Trump administration's immigration crackdown a "disgrace". Vance, who became Catholic in 2019, has cited medieval-era Catholic teaching to justify the immigration crackdown. 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 U.S. "What is built on the basis of force, and not on the truth about the equal dignity of every human being, begins badly and will end badly," the pope said then.

Read more: https://www.reuters.com/world/us/vance-meets-vatican-officials-critical-trump-policies-easter-trip-2025-04-19/