Pope Francis briefly met with Vice President JD Vance right now before giving the traditional Easter blessing from the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica, which marked his highest-profile look but since being discharged from hospital.
The Pope had a quick non-public assembly with Vance, a religious Catholic, which “provided an opportunity to exchange Easter greetings,” based on the Vatican.
The pope gifted the vice chairman a tie, rosaries and three chocolate Easter eggs for Vance’s three youngsters, video launched by EWTN TV, a Catholic tv community, confirmed.
“So good to see you … You’ve not been feeling great, but it’s good to see you in better health,” the vice chairman could be heard saying to the Pope throughout their assembly. “I pray for you every day.”
A press release from the vice chairman’s workplace later expressed gratitude “for the hospitality the Vatican has extended to his family.”
Recent tensions: Today’s assembly adopted discussions between the vice chairman and senior Vatican officers yesterday, throughout which an “exchange of opinions” occurred regarding migrants, refugees and prisoners, based on a Vatican assertion.
The vice chairman’s workplace described the assembly with Cardinal Pietro Parolin as having centered on “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.”
Just earlier than he was hospitalized in mid-February, Francis issued a rebuke of the Trump administration’s immigration coverage and refuted the vice chairman’s use of a theological idea, the “ordo amoris” (“order of love” or “order of charity”), to defend the administration’s method.
And after Catholic bishops criticized the Trump administration’s actions earlier this 12 months, Vance advised they have been motivated by their “bottom line,” because the Catholic Church receives authorities cash to assist resettle immigrants.
Parolin informed the Italian newspaper La Repubblica forward of yesterday’s talks with Vance that the Trump administration is “very different from what we are used to and, especially in the West, from what we have relied on for many years.”
This submit has been up to date with further particulars on the assembly.