ISTANBUL

US Vice President JD Vance met Saturday with top Vatican officials, including Secretary of State Pietro Parolin and Archbishop Paul Gallagher, the foreign minister, amid ongoing tensions over U.S. immigration policy, global conflicts, and prisoners’ rights.

Vance’s office said the vice president and Parolin "discussed their shared religious faith, Catholicism in the US, the plight of persecuted Christian communities around the world, and President Trump’s commitment to restoring world peace."

According to PBS News, the Vatican described the talks as cordial, while noting an “exchange of opinions on the international situation ... with particular attention to migrants, refugees, and prisoners.”

The Holy See also welcomed US commitments to religious freedom and called for “serene collaboration” between church and state.

The meeting followed months of strain between Pope Francis and Vance – who converted to Catholicism in 2019 – particularly over migration issues. Numerous press reports said Vance had hoped for an audience with the pope himself, which did not materialize. The pontiff has faced health challenges in recent months, but last week received British King Charles and Queen Camilla.

In February, Francis rejected Vance’s invocation of the doctrine of ordo amoris to justify US deportation policies, writing: "The true ordo amoris... is that which we discover by meditating on the love that builds a fraternity open to all, without exception."

Ordo amoris – in Latin “the order of love" or "rightly ordered love” – refers to loving your family first, your neighbors second, and then your community, fellow citizens and so forth.

Vance, in Rome for Easter with his family, also met with Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni and attended Good Friday services at St. Peter’s Basilica.