ROME – United States Vice President JD Vance attended a Passion liturgy at the Vatican Friday and plans to meet senior Vatican officials Saturday, amid tensions with Pope Francis and his top aides on multiple issues, including the Trump administration’s immigration policies.

Vance, a Catholic convert, arrived in Italy Friday morning as part of an April 18-24 tour of Italy and India.

After arriving, he had a meeting with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni following Meloni’s own visit to Washington a day prior, where she met with Vance and U.S. President Donald Trump amid the United States’s ongoing trade war and growing anti-European sentiment within the Trump administration.

While she was in Washington, Trump praised Meloni’s harsh anti-migrant stance, while Meloni announced that Trump had accepted her invitation to visit Rome amid ongoing efforts to bridge the gap between the US and the EU amid tensions over Trump’s sprawling tariffs.

Vance then attended a Passion Service for Good Friday in St. Peter’s Basilica in the evening, after his arrival and meeting with Meloni earlier that day.

The Vice President’s mission to the Vatican comes after the pope sharply criticized the administration’s mass deportation plans in a letter to the US bishops in February, arguing that, “The rightly formed conscience cannot fail to make a critical judgment and express its disagreement with any measure that tacitly or explicitly identifies the illegal status of some migrants with criminality.”

“All the Christian faithful and people of good will are called upon to consider the legitimacy of norms and public policies in the light of the dignity of the person and his or her fundamental rights, not vice versa,” he said.

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The pope in that letter directly rebuked a statement Vance had previously made in an interview implying that the Christian concept of love of neighbor begins close to home, saying love of one’s neighbor implies “a fraternity open to all, without exception.”

In a speech at the National Catholic Prayer Breakfast several days later, after Francis was hospitalized for double pneumonia, Vance acknowledged the pope’s criticism and said that as a new Catholic, “I’m not ever going to get everything right,” but defended the Trump administration’s position.

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While in Rome, Vance is also expected to have a private tour of the Colosseum with his family. He is also expected to attend a Vatican Easter liturgy, though it is currently unclear whether it will be the Easter Vigil on Saturday night, morning Mass on Easter Sunday, or both.

Vance is scheduled to meet with Vatican Secretary of State Italian Cardinal Pietro Parolin Saturday morning, amid speculation that me might also have a brief, private meeting with Pope Francis at some point during his visit, if the pontiff’s health permits.

Follow Elise Ann Allen on X: @eliseannallen