JD Vance plans return to Vatican for Pope Leo’s inaugural Mass

Vice President JD Vance will attend the inaugural mass of Pope Leo XIV following the pontiff’s historic election as the first American leader of the Roman Catholic Church.

Vance, the highest-ranking Catholic in the US government, heads to Italy and the Vatican for the second time in as many months after attending Holy Week services in Rome. In that April trip, Vance met briefly with the late Pope Francis just a day before the pontiff died.

Second Lady Usha Vance will also attend Sunday’s mass, a service to be held in St. Peter’s Square that will see Leo formally installed in his post. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who is also a practicing Catholic, will join the delegation along with his wife Jeanette.

It’s unclear whether Vance and Rubio will meet face-to-face with the new pope. The pair will be joined in Rome for the landmark service by several world leaders, including Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and Australia’s Anthony Albanese.

The elevation of Leo XIV, who was born in Chicago as Robert Francis Prevost, was widely celebrated in his home country, raising the possibility that he could become a more influential voice in Washington.

Leo is seen as offering a bridge between the Church’s more moderate and hardline factions, while still inheriting a body that is facing internal strife over topics such as divorce and LGBTQ issues. As pope, he’ll be the church’s foremost voice on global issues and offer a point of reference on morality and ethics for the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics.

There is also the potential for a clash, with some of the Pope Leo’s past pronouncements as cardinal signaling his views on some key issues are at odds with foundational planks of the Trump administration’s policy platform.

Earlier this year, while still a cardinal, he posted on X to push back on Vance’s interpretation of Catholic doctrine in defense of the administration’s policies on migration. “JD Vance is wrong: Jesus doesn’t ask us to rank our love for others,” the post read, sharing an op-ed with that title.

Then-Pope Francis also criticized the vice president’s comments. When Vance held a working meeting in April with leaders of the Vatican, the church’s self-governing nation-state in Rome, the Holy See said discussions included an “exchange of opinions” on global humanitarian issues including the plights of migrants, refugees and prisoners.

Vance, who converted to Catholicism in 2019, congratulated the new pontiff on his appointment, and said he would pray for his success. Trump also praised the choice of a first American pope.

While Leo XIV has deep American roots, he is also a citizen of Peru, having served there in ministry for 20 years.

The former Cardinal Prevost’s choice of papal name intentionally recalls the tenure of Leo XIII, who called attention to the plight of the working class during the industrial revolution of the late 1800s. In his first mass as pope, the 69-year old Leo delivered a message against division and war.