A day before his final public appearance on Easter Sunday, when he greeted the crowd and wished them Happy Easter, Pope Francis welcomed Vice President JD Vance into his Vatican Home.
Allegedly, during the meeting, which lasted for just a couple of minutes, Vance had broken a cardinal rule.
Vance was spending a weekend with his family in Vatican City and was reportedly snubbed by the pope on Saturday, leaving him to meet Vatican’s secretary of state, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, and foreign minister, Archbishop Paul Gallagher.
The office of the vice president, who converted to Catholicism in 2019, reported that Vance and Parolin “discussed their shared religious faith, Catholicism in the United States, the plight of persecuted Christian communities around the world, and President Trump’s commitment to restoring world peace.”
According to the Vatican News, however, the two had “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.”
During the brief meeting between Vance and the pope, they exchanged Easter greetings, and Vance was given three large chocolate Easter eggs for his three children, a Vatican tie, and rosaries.