Pope Francis appears for an Easter blessing, meets VP Vance
Pope Francis blessed an Easter Sunday crowd on the main balcony overlooking St. Peter’s Square in Rome.
WASHINGTON – Vice President JD Vance says he did not realize how sick Pope Francis was when he met with the pontiff at the Vatican a day before he died.
“I’ve thought a lot about that. I mean, it’s pretty crazy, actually,” Vance said. “And, obviously, when I saw him, I didn’t know that he had less than 24 hours still on this earth. I think it was a great blessing.”
Vance was one of the last officials to meet with Francis. The vice president, who is Catholic, held formal talks with the Vatican’s secretary of state over the weekend before an informal face-to-face with Francis the following day. Francis’ death on April 21 came less than 24 hours after he met with Vance.
“I was lucky that I got to shake his hand and tell him that I pray for him every day, because I did,” Vance told reporters on April 23 during a trip to India.
Vance said he was not planning to attend the pope’s funeral, although the details of who would be in the U.S. delegation had not fully been worked out.
President Donald Trump has said he will attend. And it would be unusual for the U.S president and vice president to make a joint trip abroad.
The vice president and Francis clashed earlier about the Trump administration’s immigration policies. But in speaking to reporters, Vance said he would not “soil” the pope’s legacy by revisiting the dispute.
“I’m aware that he had some disagreements with some of the policies of our administration. He also had a lot of agreements with some of the policies of our administration. I’m not going to soil the man’s legacy by talking about politics,” Vance said. “I think he was a great Christian pastor, and that’s how I choose to remember the Holy Father.”