The Catholic Vice President will lead a delegation representing the Trump administration for the solemn Mass at the Vatican, on May 18.
VATICAN CITY (LifeSiteNews) — U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance will lead an official delegation to the Vatican City on Sunday, to attend the opening Mass of Pope Leo XIV's pontificate.
Vance will lead a delegation to the Vatican City State, accompanied by his wife Usha. Vance will be joined by his fellow Catholic in Trump's administration, the Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who also is accompanied his wife.
A press release from the Vance's office earlier today gave brief details about the Vice President's plans for the trip.
The opening Mass of the new pope will be held in St. Peter's Square at 10 a.m. on Sunday, after which Leo will also give the customary Sunday Regina Caeli address.
Following that, Leo will also take formal possession of each of the three other papal basilicas in Rome amid a flurry of firsts in his other engagements:
- May 20, Tuesday, taking possession of the Papal Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls.
- May 21, Wednesday, first General Audience.
- May 24, Saturday, meeting with the Roman Curia and Vatican City State employees.
- May 25, Sunday, Regina Caeli, taking possession of the Papal Basilicas of St. John Lateran and St. Mary Major.
Vance is the second Catholic to serve in his position as Vice President of the U.S. – though the first convert – but even more notable is that Leo XIV is the first Pope to come from North America. Leo XIV was raised in Chicago, although spent much of his missionary life as a priest in Peru.
Last in Rome over Easter, Vance met with Pope Francis less than 24-hours before the Argentine pontiff died.
However, prior to being elected Pope, Leo appeared to share views opposed to those of Vance on the issue of immigration.
In one instance on X from February 3, then-Cardinal Prevost reposted an article by NCROnline titled “JD Vance is wrong: Jesus doesn’t ask us to rank our love for others.”
The article criticized the U.S. vice president for arguing that citizens owe more immediate responsibility to one's own family members and country than to those overseas – a position taught by St. Thomas Aquinas and reiterated in the “social encyclicals” of the nineteenth- and twentieth-century popes.
As an American, Leo XIV's relationship with the Trump administration of a number of issues such as immigration, pro-life topics, and "climate change" policies will be key to observe in order to determine his own policies as Pope.
