Vice President JD Vance
and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, both Catholic, will attend the inaugural mass for the first U.S.-born pope, Leo XIV, in Vatican City on Sunday, joined by their wives Second Lady Usha Vance and Jeanette Rubio.
The White House press release announcing their attendance noted that Vance is the first Catholic convert to serve as vice president.
Shortly before being named pope, Leo had criticized Vance’s stance on immigration on X.
Vance addressed the posts, telling Hugh Hewitt on May 9 he tries not to “play the politicization of the pope game.”
“I’m sure he’s going to say a lot of things that I love [and] I’m sure he’ll say some things that I disagree with, but I’ll continue to pray for him and the Church.”
“The Church is about saving souls and about spreading the Gospel,” he added. “And yeah, it’s going to touch public policy from time to time as all human institutions do, but that’s not really what it’s about. And I think it’s much healthier for the American media, and certainly for Catholics, to not take such a, you know, politics in the age of social media attitude towards the papacy.”