US Vice-President JD Vance is visiting Rome to meet with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and the Vatican Secretary of State, with a key objective being to secure a brief encounter with Pope Francis. This meeting, if it occurs, could symbolize a thaw in strained relations between the Vatican and Washington over issues like migration, especially as Vance represents a contrasting vision of Catholicism compared to Pope Francis’s more compassionate approach. Vance’s visit follows a critical speech at the Munich Security Conference, highlighting ideological tensions with European leaders and the Catholic Church on migration and national identity.
