Pope Leo XIV and JD Vance meet ahead of US-led diplomatic flurry to
reach ceasefire in Ukraine
[May 19, 2025]
By NICOLE WINFIELD and JACQUELYN MARTIN
ROME (AP) — Pope Leo XIV and U.S. Vice President JD Vance met at the
Vatican on Monday ahead of a flurry of U.S.-led diplomatic efforts to
make progress on a ceasefire in Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Vance, a Catholic convert, had led the U.S. delegation to the formal
Mass opening the pontificate of the first American pope. Joining him at
the meeting on Monday was Secretary of State Marco Rubio, also a
Catholic, Vance spokesperson Luke Schroeder said.
“There was an exchange of views on some current international issues,
calling for respect for humanitarian law and international law in areas
of conflict and for a negotiated solution between the parties involved,”
according to a Vatican statement after their meeting.
The Vatican listed Vance's delegation as the first of several private
audiences Leo was having Monday with people who had come to Rome for his
inaugural Mass, including other Christian leaders and a group of
faithful from his old diocese in Chiclayo, Peru.
The Vatican, which was largely sidelined during the first three years of
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, has offered to host any peace talks while
continuing humanitarian efforts to facilitate prisoner swaps and reunite
Ukrainian children taken by Russia.
After greeting Leo briefly at the end of Sunday’s Mass, Vance spent the
rest of the day in separate meetings, including with Ukrainian President
Volodymyr Zelenskyy. He also met with European Union Commission
President Ursula von der Leyen and Italy’s Premier Giorgia Meloni, who
said she hoped the trialateral meeting could be a “new beginning.”
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Pope Leo XIV stands for a family photo with Vice President JD Vance,
second from left, his wife Usha Vance, Secretary of State Marco
Rubio, second from right, and his wife Jeanette Dousdebes Rubio, on
the occasion of their meeting at the Vatican, Monday, May 19, 2025.
(Vatican Media via AP)
In the evening, Meloni spoke by phone with U.S. President Donald
Trump and several other European leaders ahead of Trump's expected
call with Russia's President Vladimir Putin on Monday, according to
a statement from Meloni's office.
‘Every Effort’
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.
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