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Rome: Pope Leo XIV has moved to mend fences with US Vice President J.D. Vance after calling him “wrong” on Catholic teaching in a significant step towards working with the Trump administration on global flashpoints including Ukraine.
Their meeting signalled the Vatican’s diplomatic influence under the new Pope and its potential to act as a venue for peace talks between Russia and Ukraine over the three-year war one day after Vance met Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky in Rome.
Pope Leo XIV shakes hands with US Vice President J.D. Vance.Credit: AP
The Vatican confirmed the meeting on Monday morning in Rome, one day after the inaugural Mass to confirm Leo as pope, and said the leaders canvassed a “negotiated solution” on areas of conflict, without naming Ukraine or other war zones such as Gaza.
As observers watch to see how Leo wields the Vatican’s influence in global affairs, the meeting with the US leaders added to a flurry of leadership talks in Rome after an estimated 150,000 people attended the ceremony in St Peter’s Square.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who joined the meeting, had said the Vatican could play a part in gaining a ceasefire in Ukraine because it could be a location for peace talks.
Russian and Ukrainian officials have made little headway in peace talks in Istanbul in recent days after Russian President Vladimir Putin declined to attend and dispatched junior advisers instead, frustrating Zelensky and his negotiating team.
Vance shook hands with Zelensky at the Mass in the pair’s first meeting since an infamous clash at the White House when US President Donald Trump and the vice president berated the Ukrainian leader for seeking American support in the fight against Russian forces.
Trump is due to speak to Putin about a ceasefire in a phone call this week amid frustration at the White House about Russia’s lack of willingness to make progress in peace talks.
Leo rebuked Vance on social media platform X in February when the latter, who converted to Catholicism in 2019, said “you love your family and then you love your neighbour” and that others in the world had a lower priority.
“JD Vance is wrong: Jesus doesn’t ask us to rank our love for others,” the Catholic leader wrote in response, posting on X when he was a cardinal, before his elevation to the papacy on May 8.
In his homily on Sunday, Leo took issue with the way governments treated the poorest people of the world and emphasised the need for peace instead.
“In this our time, we still see too much discord, too many wounds caused by hatred, violence, prejudice, the fear of difference, and an economic paradigm that exploits the Earth’s resources and marginalises the poorest,” he said.
“For our part, we want to be a small leaven of unity, communion and fraternity within the world.”
The Vatican said the “cordial” talks between the Pope and Vance discussed international conflict as well as church issues such as religious freedom.
“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.
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