Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio will be heading to the Vatican for the inaugural Mass of Pope Leo XIV on May 18.
The White House made the announcement Thursday, per NBC News.
The newly elected pope is the first American pope in history. Vance and Rubio will be joined by second lady Usha Vance.
Vance met with Pope Francis the day before he died Easter Monday at 88.
The pontiff, born Robert Prevost in Chicago, was elected last week. In the past, he has been critical of Vance, who converted to Catholicism in 2019, and President Donald Trump.
The vice president posted about the pope after his election in April
“I’m sure millions of American Catholics and other Christians will pray for his successful work leading the Church,” Vance wrote on X. “May God bless him!”
Vance also spoke with conservative commentator Hugh Hewitt about the new pope.
“You know, people are asking, “Is he a conservative or is he a liberal? Will he attack President Trump and JD Vance on certain things?’ … And I guess my response to this is, it’s very hard to fit a 2,000-year-old institution into the politics of 2025 America,” Vance said. “I try not to do that.”
Vance added he was “sure he’s going to say a lot of things that I love.”
“I’m sure he’ll say some things that I disagree with, but I’ll continue to pray for him and the church despite it all and through it all, and that’ll be the way that I handle it,” Vance said.
