Pope Leo XIV and US Vice President JD Vance, two notable figures in the Catholic community, convened Monday to discuss efforts led by the US to advance a ceasefire in the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine.
Vance’s motorcade was seen entering Vatican City just after 7:30 a.m.
Vance, a Catholic convert, had led the US delegation to the formal Mass opening the pontificate of the first American pope.
Joining Vance at the Vatican was Secretary of State Marco Rubio, also a Catholic, Vance spokesperson Luke Schroeder said.
The Vatican mentioned that Vance’s visit was among the first of several private meetings Pope Leo had scheduled for Monday. These meetings included attendees who traveled to Rome for his inauguration Mass, such as various Christian leaders and followers from his previous diocese in Chiclayo, Peru.
Although largely excluded during the initial three years of the conflict in Russia, the Vatican has extended an offer to serve as a venue for peace negotiations. Additionally, it continues to pursue humanitarian initiatives, such as facilitating exchanges of prisoners and reuniting Ukrainian children who were taken by Russia.
After greeting Leo briefly at the end of Sunday’s Mass, Vance spent the rest of the day in separate meetings with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
Leo, the former Cardinal Robert Prevost, is a Chicago-born Augustinian missionary who spent the bulk of his ministry in Chiclayo, a commercial city of around 800,000 on Peru’s northern Pacific coast.
In the days since his May 8 election, Leo has vowed “every effort” to help bring peace to Ukraine. He also has emphasized his continuity with Pope Francis, who made caring for migrants and the poor a priority of his pontificate.
Before his election, Prevost shared news articles on X that were critical of the Trump administration’s plans for mass deportations of migrants.
Vance was one of the last foreign officials to meet with Francis before the Argentine pope’s April 21 death.
The two had tangled over migration, with Francis publicly rebuking the Trump administration’s deportation plan and correcting Vance’s theological justification for it.
Later Monday, US President Donald Trump has planned separate phone calls with Russian leader Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr, as well as calls to NATO leaders.
