Vice President JD Vance said he hopes the relationship the U.S. is cultivating with Pope Leo XIV will lead to the first American pontiff playing a significant role in diplomatic efforts worldwide.
Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio were given a one-hour audience with Leo on Sunday following the Pope's first Mass since being named successor to Pope Francis, who died April 21.
Vance said Monday before returning from Rome after a three-day visit that he hopes Leo can become a crucial partner in the Trump administration's efforts to broker peace between Russia and Ukraine and in other conflict areas, NBC News reported Tuesday.
"We talked a lot about what's going on in Israel and Gaza," Vance said. "We talked a lot about the Russia-Ukraine situation. It's hard to predict the future, but I do think that not just the Pope, but the entire Vatican, has expressed a desire to be really helpful and to work together on facilitating, hopefully, a peace deal coming together in Russia and Ukraine."
Leo reportedly said last week because a peace summit in Istanbul failed to bring together the main players in the Russian-Ukraine ware that he would play host to a new round of talks at the Vatican.
Vance, who also met with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Italy Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen during his visit to Rome, described Leo as "extremely sweet."
"We have an American Pope of the world's largest single religion — a guy who doesn't have an army, but who I think has an incredible amount of capacity to convene and to influence, not just Europe, but, really, the entire world," said Vance, a Catholic who met with Francis the day before the 88-year-old pontiff died. "I hope it's the beginning of a very good relationship because I think he does care a lot about peace.
"If there is a single most productive thing [from the trip], my hope is that it will be that the relationship between us and the Vatican leads to a lot fewer people getting killed and a lot less humanitarian disaster."
The Vatican said in a news release Monday that "there was an exchange of views on some current international issues, during which hope was expressed that humanitarian law and international law be respected in areas of conflict and that there be a negotiated solution between the parties involved."
Michael Katz ✉
Michael Katz is a Newsmax reporter with more than 30 years of experience reporting and editing on news, culture, and politics.