Second time lucky for J.D. Vance as he meets Pope Leo XIV

VATICAN CITY – American Vice President J.D. Vance returned to Rome on Monday where he met with the freshly inaugurated Pope Leo XIV.

 The American Vice President was the last official visitor to meet the late Holy Father Pope Francis, as he died under 24 hours later. “Today is the time for dialogue and building bridges,” said the pontiff during an audience with representatives of other Churches and religions, the day after his first mass in which he clearly expressed his position against the push for rearmament.  The pope said that, “I am convinced that, if we are in agreement and free from ideological and political conditioning, we can be effective in saying ‘no’ to war and ‘yes’ to peace, ‘no’ to the arms race and ‘yes’ to disarmament, ‘no’ to an economy that impoverishes peoples and the Earth and ‘yes’ to integral development.”

 These words could also become actions as the possibility of the Vatican hosting peace talks for the war between Russia and Ukraine was being discussed in the papal state. Immediately after the audience, the Pontiff received the vice president of the United States of America, J.D. Vance, who later met with Msgr. Paul Richard Gallagher, Secretary for Relations with States.  Yesterday the pope met with Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelensky. The Vatican press office published a statement after the meeting, noting that “there was renewed satisfaction with the good bilateral relations and attention was focused on the collaboration between the Church and the State, as well as on some issues of special relevance for ecclesial life and religious freedom. There was an exchange of views on some issues pertaining to current international affairs, hoping for respect for humanitarian law and international law in the conflict areas and for a negotiated solution between the parties involved.”

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