Converted Catholic JD Vance visits Vatican that his worldview certainly does not share

A visit from a vice president to a European capital does not normally have so many feet in the earth. But things are different when the visitor is called JD Vance, a man who represents the Trump government at a time of great tension with the EU, and himself regards Europeans as geopolitical parasites. Vance landed on Friday morning with Air Force Two, the plane that transports the vice president, at the airport of Ciampino, to spend the Easter weekend in Rome together with his wife and their three young children.

During the official part of the visit, VANCE lunched again on Friday afternoon with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, whom he had seen in the White House the day before, during her maintenance with President Donald Trump. « Long ago! » The Italian Prime Minister joked broadly smiling, eagerly grasping the chance to pepper the rest of the EU again how well it clicks between her and the rulers in Washington.

Vance himself mainly wanted to go to the Vatican, and that was a much more complex visit in view of the critical attitude towards the Trump government. Pope Francis always argues for solidarity with refugees and migrants. That is at odds with Trumps radical-right migration policy, including expansions to El Salvador.

New convert

JD Vance grew up in Ohio, has Irish and Scottish roots and converted to the Catholic faith in 2019. The new convert opted for a very conservative interpretation of Catholicism, in spite of Francis’ message of compassion for social vulnerable in society.

Vance already criticized the limitations that Francis imposed for misclasses in Latin, which, according to the progressive branch in the church, unnecessarily increases the distance with the believers, and attacked the American bishops when they criticized the new hard migration policy. « Are the bishops really worried about migrants, or especially for their budgets? » Said Vance, referring to funds for the resettlement of migrants.

In the purchase, he even challenged the Pope and the Catholic Church on theological level. At the end of January he referred in an interview on the Trump-true television channel Fox To ‘Ordo Amoris’, an old Christian concept that he used to defend the current American migration policy. According to JD Vance, ‘Ordo Amoris’ comes down to an order, or hierarchy in the love that Christians feel for others. The love for one’s own family, and then its own countrymen would be paramount, while concerned about the rest of the world only follows much later.

Pope Francis put the dots on the i in a letter about migration that he sent to the American bishops on 10 February. « Christian love is not a concentric expansion of interests that spread little by little to other people and groups, » wrote the church leader. The Argentinian added that a worthy treatment of each individual does not have to stand in the way of orderly handling of legal migration, while he also rejected that migrants are associated with crime without legal residence status.

Vice President Vance (L) meets Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the State Secretary for the Vatican. After the Pope, Parolin is the highest driver of the Roman Catholic Church. Photo EPA/Vatican Media

Pope saves forces

A visit from JD Vance to the Pope is not on the agenda for this weekend. Officially, the explanation is that Francis is still recovering from double pneumonia – the Italian media sounds unofficial that the Pope simply does not feel like spending valuable energy on the American vice president. Francis saves his strength for the world -famous ‘Urbi et Orbi’ on Easter Day – the papal blessing to the city (Rome) and the rest of the world. It is still possible that he will receive the vice president and his family on the last nick of time, and just before or after the Easter celebration.

Encounters that the pope himself strongly attaches to, despite his weak health will continue. On Thursday, Franciscus visited the prisoners of the Regina Coeli prison in Rome. He told them that this year he was unable to wash their feet (after the example of Jesus), but wanted to show them his proximity. The prisoners applauded while they « Francis! » And « Freedom! » Scanding.

Vance and his family were not received by the Pope on Saturday morning, but by his number two in the Vatican. In addition to Pietro Parolin, State Secretary for the Vatican, Top Diplomat and Franciscus’ most loyal employee, Monsignor Paul Richard Gallagher, the Secretary for Relations with States and International Institutions, also participated in the conversation.

That went ‘cordial’, said a press release of the Vatican, while the high Vatican representatives were at the same time mentioned man and horse. The conversation went deeper into the wars and geopolitical tensions, but the Catholic leaders also emphasized the « difficult humanitarian situation of migrants, refugees and prisoners », with a special mention of the efforts made by the Catholic Church in the US for Kwetbaren.

Fierce criticism

On Friday morning, shortly after the American vice president had landed in Rome, the American embassy had put the heels in the sand at the Holy chair, via a message on X. « The Trump government is working on maintaining the sovereignty of the US by restricting illegal immigration, » was the tweet.

National Catholic Reportera renowned American magazine, immediately expressed fierce criticism. « One day that Christians commemorate the suffering and death of Christ worldwide, the American embassy with the Vatican prefers to start illegal migration, » the magazine said, indignant. If it was already intended as a political message to the Vatican, in preparation for the reception of Vance, then the Parolin and Gallagher did not in any case be inhibited to argue with refugees again.

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