“I’ve been missing you,” Meloni jokingly told Vance as he entered the courtyard of Chigi Palace, the premier’s office.
They had seen each other just the previous day in the Oval Office, where Trump lavished praise on the Italian leader for her crackdown on migration but didn’t yield on tariff plans that have increased tensions with the European Union and stoked fears of recession.
The White House and Meloni’s office on Friday issued a joint statement that said Trump would visit Italy “in the very near future.”
“There is also consideration to hold, on such occasion, a meeting between U.S. and Europe,” the statement said.
Vance, a Catholic convert, later attended Good Friday services with his wife and three children in St. Peter’s Basilica and was scheduled to meet Saturday with the Vatican secretary of state, Cardinal Pietro Parolin.
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No meeting with Pope Francis was officially announced and the pontiff didn’t attend the solemn, two-hour Good Friday service, which was presided over by a Vatican cardinal. The 88-year-old pope has sharply cut back his work schedule as he recovers from a near-fatal case of double pneumonia, and his participation in the weekend’s Easter services is uncertain.
Francis, however, recently met with King Charles III and officials haven’t ruled out a possible audience with Vance, who has criticized Francis on social media in the past, though more recently offered prayers for his recovery.
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 U.S. Catholic Church.
Just days before he was hospitalized in February, Francis blasted the Trump administration’s deportation plans, warning that they would deprive migrants of their inherent dignity. In a letter to U.S. bishops, Francis also appeared to respond to Vance directly for having claimed that Catholic doctrine justified such policies.
Vance had defended the administration’s America-first crackdown by citing a concept from medieval Catholic theology known in Latin as “ordo amoris.” He has said the concept delineates a hierarchy of care — to family first, followed by neighbor, community, fellow citizens and lastly those elsewhere.
In his Feb. 10 letter, Francis appeared to correct Vance’s understanding of the concept.
“Christian love is not a concentric expansion of interests that little by little extends to other persons and groups,” he 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 has acknowledged Francis’ criticism but has said he would continue to defend his views.
“I’m grateful every day for this job, but particularly today where my official duties have brought me to Rome on Good Friday,” Vance posted on X. “I wish all Christians all over the world, but particularly those back home in the US, a blessed Good Friday.”
Good Friday commemorates Christ’s crucifixion and is marked by the Vatican with a Latin-filled service in St. Peter’s and a nighttime, torchlit procession at the Colosseum.
Meloni has positioned herself as a bridge between the Trump administration and Europe and was the lone EU leader to attend his inauguration. As the head of a far-right party, she is ideologically aligned with Trump on issues such as curbing migration and promoting traditional values. But Italy and the United States have diverged over Meloni’s strong support for Ukraine, while Trump’s tariff threat has put pressure on Meloni to defend the EU’s trade interests on behalf of the bloc.
A bond market panic led Trump to partially pull back on his tariffs by pausing his 20% import taxes on the EU for 90 days and charge a baseline 10% instead. But Trump said Thursday he was in no rush to reach any trade deals.
Vance on Friday reaffirmed the U.S.-Italy friendship and told Meloni that he would brief her on some “interesting” developments in Russia-Ukraine negotiations. “Big trade negotiations” would continue, he said.
Like Trump, Vance seemed dazzled by Meloni’s Italian language even though he didn’t understand what she was saying.
“Of course, she could have called me a jerk and I wouldn’t know, but it would be in the most beautiful language imaginable, so I wouldn’t even get offended,” he said at the start of their talks.
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