The Vatican's Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin welcoming US V-P JD Vance at the Vatican - AFP

Agencies Vatican City

US Vice President JD Vance met on Saturday with the Vatican's No. 2 official, following a remarkable papal rebuke of the Trump administration's crackdown on migrants and Vance's theological justification of it.

Vance, a Catholic convert, arrived on Saturday in Vatican City for an appointment with the secretary of state, Cardinal Pietro Parolin and the foreign minister, Archbishop Paul Gallagher. There was speculation he might also briefly greet Pope Francis, who has been resuming some official duties during his recovery from pneumonia.

The Holy See has responded cautiously to the Trump administration, in keeping with its tradition of diplomatic neutrality. It has expressed alarm over the administration's crackdown on migrants and cuts in international aid while insisting on peaceful resolutions to the war in Ukraine and Gaza. "It is clear that the approach of the current US administration is very different from what we are used to and, especially in the West, from what we have relied on for many years," Parolin told La Repubblica on the eve of the Vance visit. 

As the US pushes to end the war in Ukraine, Parolin reaffirmed Kyiv's right to its territorial integrity and insisted that any peace deal must not be "imposed" on Ukraine but "is built patiently, day by day, with dialogue and mutual respect". Vance was spending Easter weekend in Rome with his family and attended Good Friday services in St. Peter's Basilica after meeting with Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni.

Francis and Vance have tangled sharply over migration and the Trump administration's plans to deport migrants en masse. Francis has made caring for migrants a hallmark of his papacy and his progressive views on social justice issues have often put him at odds with members of the more conservative US Catholic Church.