No proof Pope Francis skipped meeting with JD Vance during Easter Vatican visit

As news of the death of Pope Francis on April 21, 2025, spread around the world, claims (archived) also circulated that shortly before the pontiff's passing he skipped a meeting with U.S. Vice President JD Vance.

(X user @MeidasTouch)

The claim circulated on social media platforms including X (archived), Facebook (archived), Threads (archived), Bluesky (archived) and Reddit (archived). One X post (archived) about the rumor included a quote from a report by the news website The Daily Beast, reading, "Pope Francis skipped the Vatican's official meeting with Vice President JD Vance Saturday, instead having his No. 2 give the vice president a lecture on compassion, according to a Vatican statement."

However, there was no proof that Francis "skipped" a meeting with Vance over Easter weekend 2025, a claim that appeared to originate from a since-updated report on The Daily Beast. Rather, Vance and the pope met briefly on Easter Sunday, April 20, in a meeting both parties (archived) documented.

Travel plans published before Easter showed that, as part of a trip to Italy and India, Vance was due to meet with (archived) Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican's secretary of state and the "No. 2" mentioned in the X post above. This meeting occurred on April 19, according to Vatican News, a news service provided by the Holy See's Dicastery for Communication, and it took place in addition to — not instead of — the April 20 meeting with Pope Francis. Therefore, we rate the claim that the pope "skipped" meeting with Vance false.

According to an X post from Vance, it was the pope who extended the invitation for the two to meet. 

It was unclear exactly when plans for the meeting between Vance and the pope materialized. We reached out to the vice president's office and the Holy See to ask how and when the April 20 meeting between Francis and Vance came about, including whether Vance's office attempted to plan a meeting between the two before the vice president's trip began, and await a reply.

Origin of the claim

The claim originated from an April 19, 2025, article on The Daily Beast, an American news, politics and pop culture website. The first paragraph of the article on its day of publication, according to an archived version from the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine, read (emphasis ours), "Pope Francis skipped the Vatican's official meeting with Vice President JD Vance, instead having his No. 2 give the vice president a lecture on compassion, according to a Vatican statement."

The Wayback Machine saves snapshots of websites at different points in time. These snapshots can be used to track changes to pages. 

The Daily Beast's article went on to report on Vance's April 19 meeting with Parolin. Internet users who used the word "skipped" in popular claims on this topic may have lifted the term from that article.

However, a separate archived version of the article from the following day, April 20, had a revised first paragraph that read (emphasis ours), "Pope Francis did not attend the Vatican's official meeting with U.S. Vice President JD Vance on Saturday, instead having his No. 2 deliver a lecture on compassion, according to a Vatican statement."

Daily Beast editors also added a statement to the end of that version of the article. It read: "Editor's note: This story has been updated to make clear that the Pope did not snub J.D. Vance." 

What we know about the meeting

According to Vatican News, Francis and Vance had a "brief" meeting on April 20 that lasted "a few minutes." In it, the pair reportedly exchanged Easter greetings and renewed a "common commitment to protect the right to religious freedom and freedom of conscience."

Francis and Vance additionally exchanged views on "the international situation, especially regarding countries affected by war, political tensions and difficult humanitarian situations, with particular attention focused on migrants, refugees and those in prison," also according to Vatican News.

Vance posted pictures from his meeting with the pope on X on April 20, writing, "Today I met with the Holy Father Pope Francis. I am grateful for his invitation to meet, and I pray for his good health."

Snopes reported on numerous rumors about Pope Francis during his lifetime, including death hoaxes, disappearances and quotes attributed to him both correctly and incorrectly.