by InTrieste
Vice President J.D. Vance will meet with Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican’s secretary of state, during an official visit to Italy this week, the White House confirmed on Wednesday, underscoring the growing diplomatic engagement between Washington and the Holy See.
The visit, which comes as Catholics around the world mark Holy Week, will also include a high-level meeting with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni on Friday, just days after her return from Washington where she met with President Donald J. Trump for trade talks.
Vance is expected to discuss “economic and geopolitical priorities” with Meloni, the White House said, as both countries navigate a shifting global landscape marked by escalating tensions in the Middle East and a fragile post-pandemic recovery in Europe.
A convert to Catholicism, Vance has spoken publicly about the influence of faith on his political worldview. While his arrival in Rome coincides with Easter celebrations, it remains uncertain whether he will participate in any of the Vatican’s Holy Week liturgies. It is also unclear whether he will be granted an audience with Pope Francis, who is still recuperating from a recent bout of pneumonia that required a five-week hospital stay. The pontiff, 88, made a brief appearance last week to receive Britain’s King Charles III and Queen Camilla.
Earlier this year, Francis issued a strongly worded letter to U.S. Catholic bishops criticizing the Trump administration’s immigration policies—a stance that could add a layer of complexity to any potential encounter with the vice president.
Vance will be accompanied by his wife, Usha, and their three children during the Rome leg of the trip. Afterward, the family is scheduled to travel to India, where Vance will meet with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in what the administration is describing as a “strategic bilateral engagement.”
The trip marks Vance’s most prominent foreign visit since assuming office last year and comes amid mounting speculation about his growing role in shaping the administration’s foreign policy agenda.
