Jeff Mordock | May 16, 2025
(The Washington Times) — Vice President J.D. Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio will attend Pope Leo XIV’s inaugural Mass in Vatican City on Sunday, the vice president’s team announced.
Leo, who grew up in suburban Chicago, is the first American pope, marking a major milestone for U.S. Catholics. Mr. Vance is Catholic and met briefly with Pope Francis before his death last month.
Second lady Usha Vance will be among the U.S. delegation attending the Mass celebrating Leo’s installation as pope in St. Peter’s Square.
Born Robert Prevost, the pope was elected as head of the Catholic Church by a conclave last week.
Before his elevation from cardinal to pope, he had posted social media messages that were critical of Mr. Vance and President Trump. In one X post highlighting stories critical of Mr. Vance, he quoted a headline: “JD Vance is wrong: Jesus doesn’t ask us to rank our love for others.”
Mr. Vance, who converted to Catholicism in 2019, congratulated Leo upon his election.
“I’m sure millions of American Catholics and other Christians will pray for his successful work leading the Church,” Mr. Vance wrote on X. “May God bless him.”
In an interview last week with conservative commentator Hugh Hewitt, Mr. Vance downplayed the political differences between him and the new pope.
“You know, people are asking, ‘Is he a conservative or is he a liberal? Will he attack President Trump and J.D. Vance on certain things? And I guess my response to this is, it’s very hard to fit a 2,000-year-old institution into the politics of 2025 America,” Mr. Vance said. “I try not to do that.”
The vice president added that he expects the new pope to “say some things that I disagree with,” but also “say a lot of things that I love.”
Ahead of the conclave vote, Mr. Trump generated laughs and disdain when he posted an AI-generated image depicting himself as a pope. Some backlash came from some Catholics, including Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York, who slammed the image as being in poor taste.
Mr. Trump responded to remarks in the media, saying, “They can’t take a joke. The Catholics loved it.”
Mr. Vance was one of the last people to meet with Francis before his death, visiting with the pontiff on Easter Sunday.
At the time of the meeting, Francis was sitting in a wheelchair, and his words were inaudible in a video released by the Vatican.
“I know you’ve not been feeling great, but it’s good to see you in better health,” Mr. Vance said.
