JD Vance considering Easter visit to Rome
The Catholic Herald• April 2, 2025
US Vice-President JD Vance is reported to be considering a visit to Rome during Easter weekend.
According to Bloomberg, the potential plan would see the US vice-president arrive in Rome on Good Friday, 18 April, and depart from the city on Easter Sunday, 20 April.
The news outlet reported on 1 April that it had viewed correspondence confirming the intended visit, though it noted that an official involved has said that the trip is still in the planing phase and could change.
US diplomats are also reportedly seeking to coordinate a meeting between Vance and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.
The Catholic News Agency (CNA) notes that it is unclear whether the potential visit is intentionally being timed with the Easter weekend or whether that is coincidental. It’s also not known whether Vance, arguably the US’s best known and most influential Catholic convert, plans to visit the Holy See or other holy sites if the three-day trip to Rome takes place.
Vance last traveled to Europe in mid-February to address the Munich Security Conference in Germany, during which he delivered a speech that chastised many of the continent’s countires for restricting free speech and religious liberty.
The vice-president also ruffled feathers by focusing on the UK and the arrests of citizens of faith for silently praying near abortion clinics due to the implementation of laws such as Scotland’s “safe access zones” around such clinics and facilities.
“Most concerningly, I look to our very dear friends in the United Kingdom where the backslide away from conscience rights has placed the liberties of religious Britons, in particular, in the cross hairs,” the US vice president told the conference on 14 February.
Georgia Meloni recently addressed those comments, telling the Financial Times that the criticism was directed at Europe’s “ruling class” and that she could understand the point Vance was trying to make.
“I have to say I agree [with Vance],” Meloni said, according to the article. “I’ve been saying this for years…Europe has a bit lost itself.”
JD Vance at the end of March made an unexpected visit to Greenland, which drew criticism from officials in Greenland and Denmark, the latter of which controls the foreign and defence policy of the semiautonomous territory.
The controversy followed comments made by President Donald Trump about the US potentially taking control of Greenland on the basis of national and international security concerns.
Vance’s prospective visit to Rome would come shortly after President Donald Trump’s new tariffs on the EU, of which Italy is a member, and on the UK are due to go into effect on April 2.
At the end of February, JD Vance responded to Pope Francis’s criticisms of the Trump administration’s immigration policies in a speech at the annual National Catholic Prayer Breakfast held in the US capitol.
While not backing down from his more stringent immigration stance, the US vice-president was conciliatory, commending the Holy Father for his care of his spiritual flock, and praying for his health and recovery following his recent hospitalisation.
“Every day since I heard of Pope Francis’s illness, I say a prayer for the Holy Father because while, yes, I was certainly surprised when he criticised our immigration policy in the way that he has [done so], I also know that the Pope, I believe that the Pope is fundamentally a person who cares about the flock of Christians under his leadership, and he’s a man who cares about the spiritual direction of the faith,” Vance said.
King Charles III and Queen Camilla recently postponed their scheduled April visit to the Vatican during a forthcoming 7–10 April state visit to Italy.
The change in plan followed the advice of Pope Francis’s doctors based on his ongoing recovery after having to spend 5 weeks in hospital.
RELATED: Royal couple postpone Vatican visit due to advice of Pope’s doctors
Photo: US Vice-President JD Vance before boarding Air Force Two after touring the US military’s base in Pituffik, Greenland, 28 March 2025. (Photo by Jim Watson – Pool / Getty Images.)