By Margherita Stancati

ROME -- In his final hours, Pope Francis met Vice President JD Vance and delivered an Easter message on a theme that was central to his papacy: an appeal for better treatment of migrants and other vulnerable and marginalized people.

The pontiff, frail after a near-fatal bout of pneumonia this winter, was too weak to preside over Easter Mass on Sunday morning. But he appeared on the balcony of St. Peter's Basilica in a wheelchair. He blessed the crowd of faithful and wished them a happy Easter. After the service, he greeted the cheering crowd in St. Peter's Square from his open-top popemobile. It was his last public appearance before his death on Monday morning.

In his final Easter message, read out by an aide, Francis called for an end to the conflicts in Ukraine, Gaza and Sudan. He also condemned hard-line immigration policies again.

"How much contempt is stirred up at times towards the vulnerable, the marginalized, and migrants," his last public address said. "I would like all of us to hope anew and to revive our trust in others, including those who are different than ourselves, or who come from distant lands, bringing unfamiliar customs, ways of life and ideas! For all of us are children of God!"

Before the Mass, Francis hosted Vance in the Vatican, a meeting that lasted a few minutes as they exchanged Easter greetings.

"I know you have not been great but it's good to see you in better health," Vance told the 88-year-old pope. Francis then gave the vice president three Easter eggs for his children.

On Monday morning, after learning of the pope's death, the vice president offered his condolences. "My heart goes out to the millions of Christians all over the world who loved him," he wrote on X. "I was happy to see him yesterday, though he was obviously very ill...May God rest his soul."

The brief but symbolic meeting on Sunday showed a desire by the Vatican and the White House to ease tensions after a public row earlier this year over the Trump administration's plans for large-scale deportations of immigrants.

Francis' meeting with Vance, a convert to Catholicism in 2019, drew global attention because of the pope's outspoken recent criticism of U.S. immigration policies.

Francis said early this year that Trump's mass deportation plan "damages the dignity of many men and women." His remarks didn't go down well with the new administration, with Trump's border czar, Tom Homan, inviting the pope to "stick to the Catholic Church and fix that and leave border enforcement to us."

Vance had a longer meeting at the Vatican on Saturday with the pope's second in command, Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin. The Vatican said they had a cordial "exchange of opinions" on immigration and other issues.

The pope has previously slapped down Vance for misreading Christian doctrine to justify the administration's immigration policies. Vance had spoken of concentric circles of love, with the family at the center. "Then you love your fellow citizens in your own country, and then after that, you can focus and prioritize the rest of the world," Vance said.

In a letter to U.S. bishops in February, the pope said Vance was wrong in his interpretation of the theological concept of "ordo amoris," or order of love. "Christian love is not a concentric expansion of interests that little by little extend to other persons and groups," the pope wrote. "The true ordo amoris that must be promoted is that which we discover by meditating constantly on the parable of the 'Good Samaritan, ' that is, by meditating on the love that builds a fraternity open to all, without exception."

Vance said his intention hadn't been to litigate with the pope. "I was certainly surprised when he criticized our immigration policy in the way that he has," he said at the time.

Vance, who was in Italy for a three-day trip, received a warm reception when he arrived on Friday from Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who is emerging as the Trump administration's favorite European interlocutor. "I'm grateful to be in the presence of a dear friend in a beautiful place," Vance said before he had lunch with the right-wing Italian leader.

Vance's trip to Rome was part official visit, part family vacation. The city was repeatedly gridlocked as the vice president -- accompanied by his wife, their three children and a long convoy of cars -- zipped between meetings and Roman tourist sites.

Italian media dubbed the visit Vance's "Roman Holiday" after the 1953 Audrey Hepburn movie. The Colosseum, the city's most famous landmark monument, closed early to the public on Saturday for Vance's family, provoking the ire of some tourists.

Write to Margherita Stancati at margherita.stancati@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

April 21, 2025 07:42 ET (11:42 GMT)

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