One of Pope Francis’ final encounters before his death was with the U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance, who visited the Vatican over the weekend.
Vance’s visit had political overtones. On Saturday, he met with Cardinal Pietro Parolin for what the Vatican described as “an exchange of opinions.” Under Pope Francis’ leadership, the Catholic Church has strongly advocated for the rights of migrants and refugees — a stance that stands in stark contrast to the hardline immigration policies promoted by Vance and President Donald Trump.
Though Francis avoided naming individuals, he made his views unmistakably clear in a February letter to U.S. bishops. In that message, he did not just criticize the Trump-Vance agenda, particularly their treatment of migrants and refugees; he condemned a broader trend of weaponizing Christianity to advance authoritarian populism.
Francis wrote, “The act of deporting people who in many cases have left their land for reasons of extreme poverty, insecurity, exploitation, persecution or serious deterioration of the environment, damages the dignity of many men and women, and of entire families.”
He added, “The true common good is promoted when society and government, with creativity and strict respect for the rights of all welcome, protects, promotes and integrates the most fragile, unprotected and vulnerable.”
Vance’s office issued a statement saying the vice president and the pope “discussed their shared religious faith, Catholicism in the United States, the plight of persecuted Christian communities around the world and President Trump’s commitments to restoring world peace.”
The irony is difficult to ignore. Vance, who often speaks of how seriously he takes his Catholic faith, does not appear to live by its basic principles. He once said, “I hope my faith makes me more compassionate and to identify with people who are struggling,” yet his policies suggest otherwise.
Despite being someone who claims to be a “godly” man, Vance often seems strikingly indifferent to human suffering, especially when it does not align with his political agenda. He presents himself as compassionate yet consistently disregards cries for help. In truth, Vance appears more loyal to Trump than to the teachings of Christ.
Earlier this year, in an interview with Sean Hannity, Vance discussed a “Christian concept” that love and compassion begin with family, then extend to neighbors and finally to the nation.
Pope Francis directly pushed back on this view. In his letter to U.S. Bishops, he wrote, “Christian love is not a concentric expansion of interests that little by little extend to other persons and groups. In other words: the human person is not a mere individual, relatively expansive, with some philanthropic feelings!” He continued, “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.”
Vance represents a brand of far-right populism that disguises nationalism as a Christian virtue. However, Pope Francis made it unmistakably clear that the Church cannot align itself with an “America First” ideology. At its core, Catholicism calls for universal compassion, not selective empathy wrapped in the flag.
