Pope Francis meets with US Vice President J D Vance at the Vatican.
Credit: Reuters Photo
US Vice President J D Vance had met Pope Francis hours before the latter passed away on Sunday. Only hours after meeting, which lasted a few minutes, the pope passed away, leaving millions of Christians around the world in a state of mourning.
Vance, a Catholic who has clashed with the pontiff over the Trump administration's immigration policies, met Francis at his Vatican residence to exchange Easter greetings.
Vance's visit has triggered a controversy after Jack Schlossberg, the grandson of former US President John F Kennedy, posted on X, "Okay JD killed the pope."
Schlossberg was slammed by a number of social media users for his comment, with one saying, "Are you kidding with this? Just not funny -total disrespect."
However, some hashtags like #JDVanceKilledThePope and #Antichrist started trending on X due to the timing of their meeting and the Pope's demise.
"Pope Francis had a brief private encounter ... lasting a few minutes, in order to exchange good wishes on Easter day," the Vatican said in a statement regarding the meeting. After Easter Mass, the pope later appeared in St. Peter's Square to greet crowds in an open-air popemobile.
Vance's office issued a brief statement confirming the meeting, but offered no further details.
The vice president, who has been visiting Italy with his family this weekend, met senior Vatican officials for more formal talks on Saturday. The pope, who is recovering from double pneumonia, did not take part in those discussions.
The pope and Vatican officials have criticised several of the policies of President Donald Trump's administration, including his plans to deport millions of migrants from the US and his widespread cuts to foreign aid and domestic welfare programmes.
Francis had called the immigration crackdown a "disgrace". Vance, who became Catholic in 2019, had cited medieval-era Catholic teaching to justify the policy.
The pope had anrebutted the theological concept Vance used to defend the crackdown in an unusual open letter to the US Catholic bishops about the Trump administration in February, and called Trump's plan a "major crisis" for the United States.
With inputs from Reuters