The Vatican said they met for a few minutes at the Domus Santa Marta “to exchange Easter greetings.” Vance and the pope have tangled sharply over migration and the Trump administration’s plans to deport migrants en masse.

Travel plans published ahead of Vance's trip did not include a scheduled meeting between the vice president and Pope Francis.

Vance and Francis have publicly disagreed in recent months on immigration policies and other aspects of church teaching, so an Easter Sunday meeting with the pope, in what proved to be the final hours of his life,