Vatican City (AP) – American vice -president JD Vance met on Saturday the N ° 2 of the Vatican, following a Remarkable papal rebucke The repression of the Trump administration against migrants and the theological justification of Vance.
Vance, Catholic convertArrived on Saturday in the city of Vatican for an appointment with the Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin and the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Archbishop Peter Gallagher. There was speculations that he could also briefly greet Pope Francis, who began to resume certain official functions when he restored pneumonia.
The Holy See responded with caution to the Trump administration, in accordance with its tradition of diplomatic neutrality. He expressed his alarm in the face of the repression of the administration against migrants and International aid cuts While insisting on peaceful resolutions for the war in Ukraine and Gaza.
“It is clear that the approach of the current American administration is very different from what we are used to and, in particular in the West, what we have relied for many years,” Parolin told the Repubblica on the eve of Vance's visit.
While the United States pushed to end the war in Ukraine, Paroline reaffirmed kyiv's right to its territorial integrity and insisted that any peace agreement should not be “imposed” in Ukraine but “is patiently built, day by day, with dialogue and mutual respect”.
Vance spent the Easter weekend in Rome with his family and attended the Good Friday services in the Saint-Pierre basilica after meeting Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.
Papal rebucke on migration
Francis and Vance have Boring strongly on migration And the Trump administration plans to deport migrants en masse. Francis has made the care of migrants a characteristic of its papacy and its progressive opinions on questions of social justice have often disagreed it with the members of the more conservative American Catholic Church.
Vance, who converted to Catholicism in 2019, identifies with a small Catholic intellectual movement, considered by certain criticisms as having reactionary or authoritarian tendencies, that is to say Often called “postliberal”.
Post-libers share long-standing Catholic conservative opinions, such as opposition to abortion and LGBTQ +rights. They envisage a counter-revolution in which they take control of the government's bureaucracy and institutions such as the universities of the interior, replacing the “elites” rooted by theirs and acting on their vision of the “common good”.
A few days before his hospitalization in February, Francis castigated the deportation plans of the Trump administration, warning that they would deprive the migrants of their inherent dignity. In a letter to the American bishops, Francis also seemed to respond directly to Vance for having said that the justified Catholic doctrine such policies.
A Latin love concept
Vance had defended the repression first of the administration in America first by quoting a concept of medieval Catholic theology known in Latin under the name of “Ordo Amoris”. He declared that the concept delimits a hierarchy of care – with the family first, followed by the neighbor, the community, the other citizens and finally those elsewhere.
In his letter of February 10, Francis seemed to correct the understanding of the concept.
“Christian love is not a concentrate expansion of interests that extends roughly to other people and groups,” he wrote. “The real Amoris Ordo which must be promoted is that which we discover by constantly meditating on the parable of” good Samaritan “, that is to say by meditating love which builds a fraternity open to all, without exception.”
Vance has Criticism of Francis Recognized But said that he would continue to defend his opinions. During an appearance on February 28 at the national breakfast of Catholic prayer in Washington, Vance did not address the question specifically but qualified as “Catholic baby” and recognized that there are “things on the faith that I do not know”.
Although he criticized Francis on social networks in the past, he recently published prayers for the restoration of Francis.
Friday, Vance, his wife and three young children had seats at the forefront at the service of the Vatican of the Vatican in St. Peter's, a solemn two -hour commemoration featuring Latin and Italian readings. Francis did not attend.
But the Pope began to receive visitors, including King Charles III, and this week ventured from the Vatican to meet prisoners from the Central Prison in Rome to keep a meeting on Thursday Holy Minister to the most marginalized.
He appointed other cardinals to preside over Easter services this weekend, but officials did not exclude a possible brief greeting with Vance.
“I am grateful every day for this work, but above all today, where my official functions have brought me to Rome on Good Friday,” posted Vance on X. “I wish all Christians around the world, but in particular those in the United States, a Good Friday.”
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