The US vice-president has met the Vatican’s number two official after a papal rebuke of the Trump administration’s crackdown on migrants and Mr Vance’s theological justification of it.
JD Vance, a Catholic convert, met the Holy See’s secretary of state, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, and its foreign minister, Archbishop Peter Gallagher.
There was speculation he might briefly greet Pope Francis, who has begun resuming official duties during his recovery from double pneumonia. The Pope has called the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown a “disgrace”.
The two sides had “cordial talks” that included “an exchange of opinions on the international situation,” according to a Vatican statement after the meeting.
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Mr Vance and Cardinal 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.
But Pope Francis, who is limiting his public appearances on doctors’ orders, did not take part in the meeting. Mr Vance is visiting Italy over the Easter weekend.
The Holy See has responded cautiously to Donald Trump’s administration, in keeping with its tradition of diplomatic neutrality. It has expressed alarm over the US crackdown on migrants and cuts in international aid while insisting on peaceful resolutions to the war in Ukraine and Gaza.
“It is clear that the approach of the current US administration is very different from what we are used to and, especially in the West, from what we have relied on for many years,” Cardinal Parolin had told Italy’s La Repubblica newspaper before Mr Vance’s visit.
As the US pushes to end the war in Ukraine, the cardinal reaffirmed Kyiv’s right to its territorial integrity and said that any peace deal must not be “imposed” on Ukraine but be “built patiently, day by day, with dialogue and mutual respect”.
Mr Vance is spending Easter weekend in Rome with his family and attended Good Friday services at St Peter’s Basilica after meeting Italian premier Giorgia Meloni.
Pope Francis and Mr Vance have tangled over migration and the Trump administration’s plans to deport migrants en masse. The Pope has made caring for migrants a hallmark of his papacy and his progressive views on social justice issues have often put him at odds with members of the more conservative US Catholic church.
The US vice-president, who converted to Catholicism in 2019, identifies with a small Catholic intellectual movement, viewed by some critics as having reactionary or authoritarian leanings, that is often called “post-liberal”.
Post-liberals share some long-standing Catholic conservative views, such as opposition to abortion and LGBTQ+ rights. They envision a counter-revolution in which they take over government bureaucracy and institutions like universities from within, replacing entrenched “elites” with their own and acting on a vision of the “common good”.
Days before he was admitted to hospital in February, Pope Francis condemned the Trump administration’s deportation plans, warning they would deprive migrants of their inherent dignity.
In a letter to US bishops, the Pope also appeared to respond to Mr Vance directly for having claimed Catholic doctrine justified such policies.
Mr Vance had defended the administration’s America-first crackdown by citing a concept from medieval Catholic theology known in Latin as “ordo amoris”. He has said the concept delineates a hierarchy of care – to family first, followed by neighbour, community, fellow citizens and lastly those elsewhere.
In his February 10 letter, Pope Francis appeared to correct Mr Vance’s understanding of the concept.
“Christian love is not a concentric expansion of interests that little by little extends to other persons and groups,” he wrote.
“The true ordo amoris that must be promoted is that which we discover by meditating constantly on the parable of the Good Samaritan, that is, by meditating on the love that builds a fraternity open to all, without exception.”
Mr Vance has acknowledged Francis’s criticism, but said he would continue to defend his views. During a February 28 appearance at the National Catholic Prayer Breakfast in Washington, he did not address the issue specifically but called himself a “baby Catholic” and acknowledged there were “things about the faith that I don’t know”.
While he had criticised Francis on social media in the past, recently he has posted prayers for the pontiff’s recovery.
On Friday, Mr Vance, his wife and three young children had front-row seats at the Vatican’s Good Friday service at St Peter’s, a two-hour commemoration featuring Latin and Italian readings. Pope Francis did not attend. – Associated Press and Reuters
