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Pope Leo XIV welcomed U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio to the Vatican for a series of discussions on Monday. The visit began with a private audience between the Pope and the two American officials, followed by broader talks that included Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, the Vatican’s Secretary for Relations with States and International Organizations. The diplomatic meeting followed the previous day’s inaugural Mass for Pope Leo XIV, which Vance and Rubio attended at the Vatican.

According to a Vatican statement, the conversation was described as “cordial” and touched on several significant issues concerning the life of the Church and the protection of religious liberty. The Vatican’s statement also noted that the group also shared perspectives on various global matters: “there was an exchange of views on several pressing international concerns, with an emphasis on the importance of upholding humanitarian and international law in conflict zones, and encouraging negotiated settlements among the parties involved.”

The White House added that Vance and Archbishop Gallagher also talked about global threats to religious freedom, persecution of Christians, and the mutual goal of President Trump and Pope Leo to put an end to the violence in Ukraine and the Middle East.

During the meeting, Vance presented the pope with a copy of two of St. Augustine’s seminal works, “The City of God” and “On Christian Doctrine.” He also gifted a personalized Chicago Bears T-shirt bearing the pope’s name, a nod to their shared hometown. In return, Pope Leo XIV gave Vance a bronze sculpture inscribed with the Italian phrase “Peace is a fragile flower” and a large-format photo book of the papal apartments in the Apostolic Palace.

Vance and Rubio also extended a formal invitation from President Trump and First Lady Melania Trump for the pontiff to visit the United States. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt later told reporters that Vance passed a long a letter to the pope from the President and First Lady “extending their warm wishes and inviting him to the White House as soon as he possibly can” visit.

After briefly greeting Pope Leo at the conclusion of Sunday’s Mass, Vance spent much of the day in bilateral meetings, including with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. He also met with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who expressed optimism that the trilateral talks could mark a “new beginning.” According to a statement from Meloni’s office, he spoke by phone with President Trump and several other European leaders ahead of Trump’s call with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday.

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The U.S. Supreme Court approved a request from the Trump administration on Monday to move forward with ending special immigration protections for thousands of Venezuelans, potentially opening the door for their deportation.  The high court will permit the Trump administration to move forward with terminating the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) program for nearly 350,000 Venezuelan migrants

The court granted the Justice Department’s emergency appeal to lift San Francisco-based U.S. District Judge Edward Chen’s order that had halted Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s decision to terminate the deportation protection conferred to Venezuelans under the TPS program. The court’s brief order was unsigned, as is typical when the justices act on an emergency request. Liberal Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson was the sole member of the court to publicly dissent from the decision. Legal proceedings will now continue in lower federal courts.

TPS was established by Congress in 1990, and provides temporary refuge to people from countries facing severe crises such as armed conflict, natural disasters, or other extraordinary conditions. Individuals granted TPS are allowed to live and work legally in the United States for up to 18 months at a time, with the possibility of renewal. The Biden administration designated Venezuela for TPS due to its ongoing political and humanitarian turmoil in March 2021.

The legal challenge focused on a subsequent extension of Venezuela’s TPS designation issued in October 2023 and renewed again in January 2024, just before Trump returned to office. That extension was intended to last until October 2026. However, in February, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem moved to revoke that extension, aiming to end the protections much sooner—by the end of this year.

In the emergency petition to the Supreme Court, Solicitor General D. John Sauer argued that Noem’s decision was not subject to judicial oversight, writing that “his ruling interferes with core executive branch powers and unnecessarily delays urgent immigration policy decisions in an area where Congress has demanded speed, adaptability, and discretion.”

The Biden administration also established or expanded TPS programs for countries including Afghanistan, Cameroon, Haiti, and Ukraine. The Venezuelan TPS program is the largest, covering roughly 600,000 people through two separate designations, though only the most recent extension from 2023 is currently contested before the Supreme Court.

Editorial credit: Fedor Selivanov / Shutterstock.com