Pope Francis, who has been critical of US President Donald Trump's administration, met with US Vice President J.D. Vance at the Vatican on Easter. The meeting lasted a few minutes.
This was reported by Vatican News.
The brief private meeting took place after 11:30 a.m. in the Saint Martha House in the Vatican. The Holy See's press service said it lasted a few minutes and was an opportunity to exchange Easter greetings.
Meanwhile, Vance's office issued a brief statement confirming the meeting but giving no further details, Reuters reported.
Vance is in Italy with his family. He met with senior Vatican officials for more formal talks on Saturday. The Pope, who is recovering from double pneumonia, did not take part in the discussions.
The Pope and Vatican officials have previously criticized some of the policies of US President Donald Trump's administration, including his plans to deport millions of migrants from the US and his sweeping cuts to foreign aid and domestic welfare programs.
Francis has called the immigration policy "a disgrace." Vance, who became a Catholic in 2019, cites medieval Catholic teaching to justify the policy.
The Pope refuted the theological concept that Vance used to defend the crackdown in an unusual open letter to US Catholic bishops about the Trump administration in February and called Trump's plan a "great crisis" for the United States.
As Ukrainian News Agency earlier reported, on Easter, the 88-year-old Pope Francis traveled to St. Peter's Square in a wheelchair for the first time since suffering from double pneumonia and greeted tens of thousands of Catholics after Easter Mass at the Vatican.
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