Vance and Francis: Divergent values but shared ideas

Pope Francis is the spiritual leader of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics who preaches for a more open church that should amplify for migrants.

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In Vice President Vance, a fervent Catholic convert determined to make his country a bastion of conservative values. After Vance met with the Vatican’s second-highest official — Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin — on Saturday, there was still no word of a possible engagement with the convalescing pontiff, who is recovering at 88 from life-threatening bronchitis. With Catholicism celebrating Easter — the most sacred event on the calendar — Vatican is the official and unofficial capital, shaped about any possible meeting between Vance and Francis, even if there already had been one.

Given a recent spot between Francis and US President Donald Trump’s administration, such talks might be expected to be tense. There appears to be an ideological divide between Vance and Francis, but the number of points on which the pair converge are still numerous, said Ross Douthat, director of the Center on Political Observatory at Religion at the Institute of Inter-national and Strategic Relations (IRIS) in Paris.