Vice President JD Vance met with the newly appointed Pope Leo XIV on Monday, presenting him with a Chicago Bears football jersey. The first American pope, born in Chicago in 1955, in turn presented Vance with a bronze sculpture engraved with an Italian phrase meaning “peace is a fragile flower.”
“I was humbled and honored to meet Leo and lead the presidential delegation to Rome for his inaugural mass. We had a great conversation, and I know he is a true servant of God. I hope all Americans will join me in praying for the new pope as he begins his ministry,” Vance posted on X.
Later, Secretary of State Marco Rubio joined Vance and the pope at the Vatican for a private audience where no reporters were present. The Vatican said that the conversation was “an exchange of views on some current international issues, calling for respect for humanitarian law and international law in areas of conflict and for a negotiated solution between the parties involved.”
Before Leo was appointed pope, Vance cravenly followed the lead of President Donald Trump, who shared AI-generated images of himself as pope, which angered many Catholics, including some cardinals.
Referring to Rubio, Vance posted on X, “I think he could take on a bit more. If only there was a job opening for a devout Catholic…”
A cartoon by Clay Jones.
But that wasn’t the first time that Vance seemed to piss off the new pope.
In February, Leo criticized the Trump administration’s mass deportation plans and shared an article titled: "JD Vance is wrong: Jesus doesn't ask us to rank our love for others” on his personal X account. Though the Vatican has neither confirmed nor denied the authenticity of these now-deleted posts.
Not to be overshadowed, Trump glowingly bloviated on Truth Social about his “two hour call with President Vladimir Putin of Russia” on peace negotiations with Ukraine.
“The Vatican, as represented by the Pope, has stated that it would be very interested in hosting the negotiations. Let the process begin!” he wrote.
Vance’s last go-around with a pope went poorly, as the late Pope Francis released an Easter message that took direct shots at Vance and Trump’s inhumane treatment of immigrants and refugees.
On the same day of Vance’s meeting with Francis, Leo wrote a message on X that also seemed critical of the Trump administration.
“If we Christians and members of other religious traditions stand together, free from ideological and political conditioning, we can be effective in saying ‘no’ to war and ‘yes’ to peace, ‘no’ to an economy that impoverishes people and the Earth and ‘yes’ to integral development,” he wrote.
It’s truly shocking that Vance and Rubio didn’t burst into flames the second they stepped into the Vatican.
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