Pope Leo XIV Invited to White House Despite Past Criticism of Trump

In a surprising turn of events, Donald Trump has extended a White House invitation to Pope Leo XIV, the newly elected pontiff who, as Cardinal Robert Prevost, was previously critical of the Trump administration.

A Meeting at the Vatican

The invitation was personally delivered by US Vice President JD Vance during a meeting with Pope Leo XIV at the Vatican on Monday. The meeting, which was filmed and shared by the Vatican, showed Vance and his wife presenting the Pope with a Chicago Bears American football jersey with Leo’s name on it. Vance, who converted to Catholicism in 2019, said, “As you can probably imagine, the US people are extremely excited about you.” In return, Pope Leo gifted Vance a bronze sculpture inscribed with words in Italian meaning “peace is a fragile flower.”

Before the meeting, the Vatican revealed that Pope Leo had a private conversation with Vance and subsequently met with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio. While details of these discussions remain undisclosed, the Vatican described the talks as “cordial” and focused on international issues, emphasizing the need for respect for humanitarian and international law in conflict zones. These meetings took place just hours before Trump was scheduled to speak with Russian President Vladimir Putin in an attempt to de-escalate the war in Ukraine.

Past Criticism and a Reset

Pope Leo, before his election this month, voiced his disapproval of the Trump administration’s hardline immigration policies on social media. He even critiqued comments made by Vance himself in a 2019 interview. The Vatican has not confirmed or denied the authenticity of these now-deleted social media posts.

Christopher White, Vatican correspondent for the National Catholic Reporter, believes the meeting served as an opportunity to mend relations. He stated, “Vance certainly knows where the pope stands on the Trump administration’s position on migration, and so I think it was probably important for both sides to use the meeting today as a reset [in relations]. But they’re obviously worlds apart on migration, and so today was really more about Ukraine and finding a solution.” White also noted that Pope Leo’s stance on the war in Ukraine was more direct than that of his predecessor, Pope Francis.

While Trump may attempt to capitalize on Pope Leo’s papacy, White believes that a visit to the US may not be a top priority. “He will be quite shrewd,” White added. “I think it’s fair to say that we can expect him to visit Peru, his adopted country, before he visits his homeland.”