By NICOLE WINFIELD and JACQUELYN MARTIN, Related Press
ROME (AP) — U.S. Vice President JD Vance prolonged an invite to Pope Leo XIV to go to america throughout a gathering on the Vatican on Monday forward of a flurry of U.S.-led diplomatic efforts to make progress on a ceasefire in Russia’s battle in Ukraine.
Vance gave the primary American pope a letter from U.S. President Donald Trump and the primary girl inviting him. The Chicago-born pope took the letter and put it on his desk and was heard saying “at some point,” within the video footage of the assembly supplied by Vatican Media.
Pope Leo XIV meets with Vice President JD Vance, middle, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, left, on the event of their assembly on the Vatican, Monday, Could 19, 2025. (Vatican Media by way of AP)
Vance, who transformed to Catholicism in 2019, additionally gave the Augustinian pope a duplicate of two of St. Augustine’s most seminal works, “The City of God” and “On Christian Doctrine,” the vice chairman’s workplace stated. One other reward: A Chicago Bears T-shirt with Leo’s title on it.
“As you can probably imagine, people in the United States are extremely excited about you,” Vance advised Leo as they exchanged presents.
Leo gave Vance a bronze sculpture with the phrases in Italian “Peace is a fragile flower,” and a coffee-table sized image e book of the papal flats within the Apostolic Palace. Leo famous that Francis had chosen to not stay in them and added, “And I may live in, but it’s not totally decided.”
Vance led the U.S. delegation to Sunday’s formal Mass opening the preach of the primary American pope. Becoming a member of him on the assembly on Monday was Secretary of State Marco Rubio, additionally a Catholic, Vance spokesperson Luke Schroeder stated. The 2 then additionally met with the Vatican overseas minister, Archbishop Paul Gallagher.
“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,” in response to a Vatican assertion after their assembly.
The Vatican listed Vance’s delegation as the primary of a number of personal audiences Leo was having Monday with individuals who had come to Rome for his inaugural Mass, together with different Christian leaders and a bunch of devoted from his outdated diocese in Chiclayo, Peru.
The Vatican, which was largely sidelined through the first three years of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, has supplied to host any peace talks whereas persevering with humanitarian efforts to facilitate prisoner swaps and reunite Ukrainian kids taken by Russia.
After greeting Leo briefly on the finish of Sunday’s Mass, Vance spent the remainder of the day in separate conferences, together with with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. He additionally met with European Union Fee President Ursula von der Leyen and Italy’s Premier Giorgia Meloni, who stated she hoped the trialateral assembly could possibly be a “new beginning.”
Within the night, Meloni spoke by cellphone with U.S. President Donald Trump and a number of other different European leaders forward of Trump’s anticipated name with Russia’s President Vladimir Putin on Monday, in response to an announcement from Meloni’s workplace.
‘Every Effort’
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 carry 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.
Vance was one of many final overseas officers to fulfill with Francis earlier than the Argentine pope’s April 21 demise. The 2 had tangled over migration, with Francis publicly rebuking the Trump administration’s deportation plan and correcting Vance’s theological justification for it.
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