Pope Leo XIV received US Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio at the Vatican Monday, a day after the new US pontiff’s inauguration mass.
The Vatican released photographs of Vance and Rubio smiling as they met with the Chicago-born pope, who was elected as head of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics on May 8.
The audience with Leo lasted 45 minutes, the VP’s spokesperson said.
Vance then met with the Holy See’s secretary for relations with states, Paul Richard Gallagher, for “cordial talks” the Vatican said.
“Satisfaction at the good bilateral relations was reiterated, and the collaboration between Church and State was discussed, as well as some matters of special relevance to ecclesial life and religious freedom,” the Vatican said in a statement.
“Finally, there was an exchange of views on some current international issues, calling for respect for humanitarian law and international law in areas of conflict and for a negotiated solution between the parties involved”, it said.
JD Vance converted to Catholicism in 2019 and Rubio is also a Catholic.
The pair were among the 200,000 dignitaries, royals and faithful gathered Sunday to mark the official start of Leo’s papacy in St Peter’s Square.
They then queued up to shake Leo’s hand after the mass.
Before becoming pope, Leo reposted on his personal X account criticism of US President Donald Trump’s administration over its approach to migration and also pilloried Vance.
But Vance insisted Sunday that the United States was “very proud of him”.
“Certainly our prayers go with him as he starts this very important work,” Vance said at a meeting with EU chief Ursula von der Leyen and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.