JD Vance visits Vatican after papal rebuke over Trump’s migrant crackdown

US vice president JD Vance has met the Vatican’s number two official after a papal rebuke of the Trump administration’s crackdown on migrants and Mr Vance’s theological justification of it.

Mr Vance, a Catholic convert, arrived on Saturday in Vatican City for an appointment with the secretary of state, Cardinal Pietro Parolin and the foreign minister, Archbishop Peter Gallagher.

There was speculation he might also briefly greet Pope Francis, who has begun resuming official duties during his recovery from pneumonia.

The Holy See has responded cautiously to the Trump administration, in keeping with its tradition of diplomatic neutrality. It has expressed alarm over the US crackdown on migrants and cuts in international aid while insisting on peaceful resolutions to the war in Ukraine and Gaza.

“It is clear that the approach of the current US administration is very different from what we are used to and, especially in the West, from what we have relied on for many years,” Mr Parolin told La Repubblica on the eve of the Vance visit.

As the US pushes to end the war in Ukraine, the cardinal reaffirmed Kyiv’s right to its territorial integrity and insisted that any peace deal must not be “imposed” on Ukraine but be “built patiently, day by day, with dialogue and mutual respect”.

Mr Vance is spending Easter weekend in Rome with his family and attended Good Friday services at St Peter’s Basilica after meeting Italian premier Giorgia Meloni.

Francis and Mr Vance have tangled over migration and the Trump administration’s plans to deport migrants en masse. Francis has made caring for migrants a hallmark of his papacy and his progressive views on social justice issues have often put him at odds with members of the more conservative US Catholic Church.

The vice president, who converted to Catholicism in 2019, identifies with a small Catholic intellectual movement, viewed by some critics as having reactionary or authoritarian leanings, that is often called “post-liberal”.

Post-liberals share some longstanding Catholic conservative views, such as opposition to abortion and LGBT+ rights. They envision a counter-revolution in which they take over government bureaucracy and institutions like universities from within, replacing entrenched “elites” with their own and acting on a vision of the “common good”.

Days before he was admitted to hospital in February, Francis condemned the Trump administration’s deportation plans, warning they would deprive migrants of their inherent dignity.

In a letter to US bishops, Francis also appeared to respond to Mr Vance directly for having claimed Catholic doctrine justified such policies.

Mr Vance had defended the administration’s America-first crackdown by citing a concept from medieval Catholic theology known in Latin as “ordo amoris”. He has said the concept delineates a hierarchy of care — to family first, followed by neighbour, community, fellow citizens and lastly those elsewhere.

In his February 10 letter, Francis appeared to correct Mr Vance’s understanding of the concept.

“Christian love is not a concentric expansion of interests that little by little extends to other persons and groups,” he wrote.

“The true ordo amoris that must be promoted is that which we discover by meditating constantly on the parable of the Good Samaritan, that is, by meditating on the love that builds a fraternity open to all, without exception.”

Mr Vance has acknowledged Francis’s criticism but said he would continue to defend his views. During a February 28 appearance at the National Catholic Prayer Breakfast in Washington, he did not address the issue specifically but called himself a “baby Catholic” and acknowledged there were “things about the faith that I don’t know”.

While he had criticised Francis on social media in the past, recently he has posted prayers for the pontiff’s recovery.

On Friday, Mr Vance, his wife and three young children had front-row seats at the Vatican’s Good Friday service at St Peter’s, a two-hour commemoration featuring Latin and Italian readings. Francis did not attend.