The US Vice President JD Vance has spoken about his meeting with Pope Francis, which coincidentally ended up being less than 24 hours before the Pope passed away on the morning of Easter Monday April 21.
JD Vance met the pope on Easter
Vance met with Pope Francis, the late leader of the Catholic Church, on Sunday April 20. The pope died less than 24 hours after the meeting, as he passed around 7am on Monday.
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The vice president branded this timing ‘pretty crazy’ as he spoke about the pope’s death.
The Pope had been unwell for months
Pope Francis had been in the hospital for months before his death where he endured five weeks at the institution to recover from complications caused by double pneumonia.
Sadly, just a few weeks after being discharged from the hospital, Pope Francis died aged 88.
Camerlengo Cardinal Kevin Ferrell announced his death
In a statement, Camerlengo Cardinal Kevin Ferrell said, “Dearest brothers and sisters, with deep sorrow I must announce the death of our Holy Father Francis.”
“At 7.35 this morning, the Bishop of Rome, Francis, returned to the home of the Father.”
JD Vance spoke to the news about the pope’s death
Since the pope’s death, Vance has spoken to the media about how it felt to see him less than 24 hours before he died.
The vice president said, “I knew he was very ill. I didn’t realize how sick he was.”
He said the timing was ‘pretty crazy’
When asked about the timing of his visit in relation to the pope’s death, Vance said, “I thought a lot about that.”
“I mean, it’s pretty crazy, actually and obviously when I saw him, I didn’t know he had less than 24 hours still on this Earth.”
Vance said he felt lucky to have met the Pope
“I try to just, you know, remember that I was lucky that I got to shake his hand and tell him that I pray for him every day,” the 40-year-old admitted.
According to MailOnline, the vice president was raised Christian but later became a secular atheist in college, before converting to the Catholic Church in 2019.
Vance paid tribute to the late Pope on social media
Taking to Twitter/X at the time of the Pope’s death, Vance wrote, “I just learned of the passing of Pope Francis. My heart goes out to the millions of Christians all over the world who loved him.”
“I was happy to see him yesterday, though he was obviously very ill.”
He mentioned a piece of religious discourse
Vance went on to write, “But I’ll always remember him for the below homily he gave in the very early days of COVID. It was really quite beautiful.”
He ended the message, “May God rest his soul.”
