ROME — Two high-profile Catholics, Pope Leo XIV and U.S. Vice President JD Vance, met Monday forward of a flurry of U.S.-led diplomatic efforts to make progress on a ceasefire in Russia’s conflict in Ukraine.
Vance’s motorcade was seen coming into Vatican Metropolis simply after 7:30 a.m. Vance, a Catholic convert, had led the U.S. delegation to the formal Mass opening the pontificate of the primary American pope.
Becoming a member of Vance on the Vatican was Secretary of State Marco Rubio, additionally a Catholic, Vance spokesperson Luke Schroeder mentioned.
The Vatican listed Vance’s delegation as the primary of a number of non-public audiences Leo was having Monday with individuals who had come to Rome for his inaugural Mass, together with different Christian leaders and a gaggle of devoted from his outdated diocese in Chiclayo, Peru.
The Vatican, which was largely sidelined through the first three years of Russia’s conflict, has offered to host any peace talks whereas persevering with humanitarian efforts to facilitate prisoner swaps and reunite Ukrainian youngsters taken by Russia.
After greeting Leo briefly on the finish of Sunday’s Mass, Vance spent the remainder of the day in separate conferences with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and EU Fee President Ursula von der Leyen.
Leo, the previous Cardinal Robert Prevost, is a Chicago-born Augustinian missionary who spent the majority of his ministry in Chiclayo, a business metropolis of round 800,000 on Peru’s northern Pacific coast.
Within the days since his Could 8 election, Leo has vowed “every effort” to assist convey peace to Ukraine. He additionally has emphasised his continuity with Pope Francis, who made caring for migrants and the poor a precedence of his preach.
Earlier than his election, Prevost shared information articles on X that had been crucial of the Trump administration’s plans for mass deportations of migrants.
Vance was one of many last foreign officials to satisfy with Francis earlier than the Argentine pope’s April 21 loss of life. The 2 had tangled over migration, with Francis publicly rebuking the Trump administration’s deportation plan and correcting Vance’s theological justification for it.
Later Monday, U.S. President Donald Trump has deliberate separate cellphone calls with Russian chief Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr, in addition to calls to NATO leaders.
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