By Joshua McElwee
VATICAN CITY (Reuters) – U.S. Vice President JD Vance, a Catholic who has clashed with Pope Francis over the Trump administration’s immigration policies, took part in a religious service at the Vatican on Friday but the convalescing pope did not attend.
Vance, visiting Italy with his family over the Easter weekend, joined a ceremony in St. Peter’s Basilica for Good Friday, the day Christians mark Jesus’ crucifixion.
The vice president was seen entering the event with his wife Usha and their three young children. Vance carried one of the children in his arms.
Francis is limiting his public appearances on doctors’ orders as he recovers from double pneumonia.
The pope has made caring for migrants one of the key themes of his 12-year papacy. He has sharply criticised the Trump administration’s plans to deport millions of migrants in the U.S., calling the policy a “disgrace”.
Vance, who became Catholic in 2019, has cited medieval-era Catholic teaching to justify the immigration crackdown.
Francis 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,” said the pope.
Vance is expected to have a formal meeting at the Vatican on Saturday with Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Church’s most senior official after the pope. Francis is not expected to take part.
Catholic officials in the U.S. have also criticized the Trump administration’s cuts to foreign aid and domestic welfare programmes.
The U.S. Catholic bishops’ conference announced this month that, due to the cuts, it would end a half-century of partnerships with the federal government to provide services to migrant and refugee populations.
Chieko Noguchi, a spokesperson for the U.S. bishops, told Reuters that Parolin, the Vatican’s Secretary of State, is “well-informed of the challenges faced by the Church and her institutions here” in the U.S.
“We pray that the meeting yields positive and engaging dialogue,” she said.
Vance may also attend the Vatican’s celebration of Easter in St. Peter’s Square on Sunday. The Vatican has not said yet whether the pope will attend the ceremony.
(Reporting by Joshua McElwee; Editing by Ros Russell)
