US Senators Visit Pope Leo XIV's Inauguration

Vice President JD Vance and First Lady Usha Vance will be joined by Secretary of State Marco Rubio and his wife as part of a US delegation that will travel to Rome to attend Pope Leo XIV's inauguration.

Pope Leo XIV, formerly Cardinal Robert Prevost, is the first American pope, making his inauguration a momentous occasion for American Catholics. Vance, who converted to Catholicism in 2019, has also met briefly with the late Pope Francis and congratulated Leo upon his election.

"I'm sure millions of American Catholics and other Christians will pray for his successful work leading the Church," the vice president wrote last week. "May God bless him!"

Pope Leo XIV is set to preside over an inaugural Mass on Sunday in St. Peter's Square, where he was announced as the 267th pontiff of the Roman Catholic Church one week ago.

As Leo begins his papacy, some 1.4 billion Catholics worldwide will be looking to him for guidance on important issues like immigration, abortion, capital punishment, and the Church’s relationship with the LGBTQ+ community.

"JD Vance is wrong: Jesus doesn't ask us to rank our love for others."

Pope Leo XIV has a history of being critical on social media of Vance and President Donald Trump in the past. In one post, then-Cardinal Prevost directly fact-checked the vice president on matters of Jesus' teachings.