The American vice president JD Vance was received this Vatican this Saturday, April 19 in an interview on Saturday, April 19, which addressed the spiny issue of refugees, two months after strong criticisms of the Church of the Catholic Church against the migration policy of the Trump administration.
The two parties had maintained vagueness at a possible meeting this Saturday between JD Vance and the 88 -year -old Pope. This was not mentioned.
JD Vance, converted to Catholicism at age 35, could meet François on Sunday, April 20, outside the Easter Mass, although his presence was not officially confirmed. Weakened after serious pneumonia and, despite his convalescence, the Pope had received King Carlos III in early April and appeared several times in public in recent days.
More than an hour of maintenance
A fervent Catholic, JD Vance, maintained for more than an hour in the Apostolic Palace with Cardinal Pietro Parolin Italiano, Secretary of State and number two of the Holy See, as well as the MGR Paul Richard Gallagher, Secretary of Relations with the United States.
The “cordial” interview addressed “the international situation, particularly in countries marked by war, political tensions and difficult humanitarian situations, with special attention to migrants, refugees, prisoners,” said the Vatican in a statement.
Repeated Observations of the Pope in favor of migrants
In February, Pope Francis had attracted the wrath of the White House to condemn, in a letter to the US bishops, the massive expulsions of migrants sought by Donald Trump, described as “great crisis.”
“What is based on the basis of force, and not about the truth of the same dignity of any human being, will begin badly and will end badly,” he warned, when JD Vance intends to make his country a strength with conservative values by drastically limiting immigration.
In 2024, the sovereign pontiff had already made a rare raid in the US electoral campaign by calling hostile attitudes to migrants as “madness” and criticizing the right Catholic personalities for their too conservative positions.
A “common commitment to religious freedom”
This Saturday, “the two parties (…) renewed their common commitment to protect the right to religion and consciousness,” according to the Vatican.
A topic directed in Munich in February by JD Vance, who had denounced the “decline” of “freedom of expression” in the former continent, particularly with respect to the opposition to abortion, aroused the anger of several European leaders.
JD Vance is close to the conservative strip of the American Church, very critical of the Argentine Pope for his positions on migrants, LGBT+ faithful or certain issues of social justice.
“The two parties expressed the desire for a serene collaboration between the State and the Catholic Church in the United States, whose precious service to the most vulnerable people was recognized,” said the Vatican.
Friday arrived in Rome for the weekend of Pascal, JD Vance met the Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. Then he went to the Basilica Saint-Pierre, accompanied by his wife Usha and his three children, to attend the office of Good Friday, which commemorates the death of Christ on the cross.
Source: BFM TV
