Pope Leo XIV spurned JD Vance on Sunday, offering him a quick greeting after his inaugural mass while holding extensive private meetings with other world leaders.
The first American pope shook Vance’s hand during a brief, 17-second exchange during the procession line after the mass.
Leo met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Peruvian President Dina Ercilia Boluarte Zegarra on Sunday after celebrating his inaugural Mass, which included world leaders from Canada, Italy, Germany, and other European Union officials in the audience.
#PapaLeoneXIV ha ricevuto il presidente ucraino Volodymyr Zelensky e la presidente della Repubblica del Perù Dina Ercilia Boluarte Zegarra pic.twitter.com/eN9L5RGyBH
— Vatican News (@vaticannews_it) May 18, 2025
The snub comes after the pope subtly criticized Vance and the Trump administration during his sermon, which has expelled and terrorized migrants and prompted seizing foreign land and resources, including Greenland.
“In this our time, we still see too much discord, too many wounds caused by hatred, violence, prejudice, the fear of difference, and an economic paradigm that exploits the Earth’s resources and marginalizes the poorest,” Leo said on Sunday.
The White House did not respond to an immediate request for comment on whether Vance sought a longer meeting or whether one was in the works. Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio were set to meet with other European leaders on Sunday, including Zelensky.
Before he became Pope Leo, Father Robert Prevost reposted multiple posts that took aim at Vance’s complicity in the Trump administration’s draconian immigration policies. He reposted a National Catholic Reporter op-ed with the title “JD Vance is wrong: Jesus doesn’t ask us to rank our love for others,” and he shared other op-eds that highlighted the plight of migrants deported to El Salvador.
Vance side-stepped the criticism in an interview with Hugh Hewitt earlier this month. “I try not to play the politicization of the Pope game,” he said.
Vance’s history with pontiffs while vice president has not been bright. Pope Francis criticized Vance’s defense of the immigration crackdown in a February letter to Catholic bishops, which Vance lodged on religious grounds.
“The act of deporting people who in many cases have left their own land for reasons of extreme poverty, insecurity, exploitation, persecution or serious deterioration of the environment, damages the dignity of many men and women, and of entire families, and places them in a state of particular vulnerability and defenselessness,” he wrote.
Vance said in February he wouldn’t litigate “about who’s right and who’s wrong,” and he later met with Francis on April 20 at the Vatican, where the Pope received the vice president for a brief private meeting and presented him with gifts. Francis died the next day.
Still, Vance has tried to mend his ties with Catholic leadership. He visited Pope Francis’ tomb on Saturday, posting on X that he was “praying for the repose of his soul.”
“He was beloved by many Catholics around the world,” he said.
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