President Trump invited Pope Leo XIV, the first American pope, to the White House, with Vice President JD Vance delivering the invitation during his private audience with the pope.
VATICAN CITY (LifeSiteNews) -- U.S. President Donald Trump has officially invited Pope Leo XIV to the White House.
On May 19, U.S. Vice President JD Vance presented Pope Leo XIV, the first American pope, with a letter from Donald and Melania Trump, inviting him to visit the president and first lady at the White House in Washington, DC.
“As you can probably imagine, people in the United States are extremely excited about you,” Vance told Leo as they exchanged gifts.
Vance presented the new pontiff with the letter from Trump inviting him to the White House and a Chicago Bears jersey bearing the pontiff’s name and the number “XIV.”
According to White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt, the letter from Trump and Melania invited Leo to visit "as soon as [he] possibly can."
Vance, along with Secretary of State Marco Rubio, were given a private audience with Pope Leo, where officials discussed collaboration between the Church and state, religious freedom, and ongoing international conflicts, per the Vatican.
The Vatican noted that the discussion was cordial and emphasized that various issues.
Already, there are some tensions between Pope Leo and the Trump administration.
While he was still a cardinal, Leo reposted an article criticizing Vance 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 19th- and 20th-century popes.
Last week, Rubio discussed the new pontiff’s previous comments about the Trump administration’s immigration policies with reporters, stressing that they are not incompatible with the pontiff’s sentiments about showing compassion for migrants.
“We too are compassionate towards migrants; I would argue there’s nothing compassionate about mass migration,” the secretary of state said. “There’s nothing compassionate about open borders, that allows people to be trafficked here. There’s nothing compassionate … to the American people about flooding our country with individuals that are criminals and prey on our communities.”
Earlier this week, on May 20, Louis Prevost, the older brother of Leo XIV, and his wife met with Trump and Vance in the White House. Prevost has been in the news ever since his brother emerged from this month’s conclave wearing the pontifical vestments. He made waves when he told political commentator Piers Morgan that he’s a huge Trump fan.
Later in the interview, Louis told Morgan that his brother is “much more liberal than I am” but not “woke.”
