U.S. Vice President JD Vance gave Pope Leo XIV a special Chicago-themed gift during a meeting at the Vatican on Monday.
Among the gifts Vance brought to the meeting was a Chicago Bears jersey with the name Pope Leo — and the number XIV.
VATICAN CITY, VATICAN – MAY 19: (EDITOR NOTE: STRICTLY EDITORIAL USE ONLY – NO MERCHANDISING). Pope Leo XIV exchanges gifts with US Vice President J.D. Vance and his wife Usha Vance during a private audience at the Apostolic Palace on May 19, 2025 in Vatican City, Vatican. The Holy See Press Office announced that Pope Leo XIV met with the Vice President of the United States of America, James David Vance, on Monday morning. The US Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, and their wives were also present at the audience.The US Vice President and Secretary of State represented the United States at the Pope’s Mass of Inauguration of his Petrine Ministry on Sunday morning in St. Peter’s Square. (Photo by Simone Risoluti Vatican Media via Vatican Pool/Getty Images)“As you can probably imagine, people in the United States are extremely excited about you,” Vance told Leo, the first American pope and a Chicago native, as they exchanged gifts.
The pope is no stranger to Chicago sports, with his White Sox allegiance making headlines after his election. That team also sent a jersey and a hat to the Vatican after the announcement.
The Bears gift was one of three brought to Italy by Vance, who converted to Catholicism in 2019. The vice president’s office also noted that Vance gifted Pope Leo a copy of two of St. Augustine’s most seminal works, “The City of God” and “On Christian Doctrine.”
Vance also gave the first American pope a letter from U.S. President Donald Trump and the first lady inviting him. The Chicago-born pope took the letter and put it on his desk and was heard saying “at some point,” in the video footage of the meeting provided by Vatican Media.
Although a future visit to the U.S. may be possible, in a previous interview with NBC Nightly News anchor Lester Holt, the pope didn’t seem to think he would be returning to Chicago anytime soon.
“I asked him specifically ‘any chances of getting back home,’ meaning Chicago or the United States, and he said ‘I don’t think so,’” Holt told NBC Chicago’s Mary Ann Ahern. “I think that falls in line with what we’ve been hearing, that he has a lot of work to do in the Vatican, and that’s his main focus.”
In the Vatican meeting, Leo gave Vance a bronze sculpture with the words in Italian “Peace is a fragile flower,” and a coffee-table sized picture book of the papal apartments in the Apostolic Palace. Leo noted that Francis had chosen not to live in them and added, “And I may live in, but it’s not totally decided.”
The meeting between the two happened ahead of a flurry of U.S.-led diplomatic efforts to make progress on a ceasefire in Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Real Estate May 16See inside Pope Leo's childhood home in Dolton, Illinois — now back on the market
Pope Leo XIV May 12Will Pope Leo XIV visit Chicago? Here's what he told NBC's Lester Holt
Vance led the U.S. delegation to Sunday’s formal Mass opening the pontificate of the first American pope. Joining him at the meeting on Monday was Secretary of State Marco Rubio, also a Catholic, Vance spokesperson Luke Schroeder said. The two then also met with the Vatican foreign minister, Archbishop Paul Gallagher.
“There was an exchange of views on some current international issues, calling for respect for humanitarian law and international law in areas of conflict and for a negotiated solution between the parties involved,” according to a Vatican statement after their meeting.
The Vatican listed Vance’s delegation as the first of several private audiences Leo was having Monday with people who had come to Rome for his inaugural Mass, including other Christian leaders and a group of faithful from his old diocese in Chiclayo, Peru.
The Vatican, which was largely sidelined during the first three years of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, has offered to host any peace talks while continuing humanitarian efforts to facilitate prisoner swaps and reunite Ukrainian children taken by Russia.
After greeting Leo briefly at the end of Sunday’s Mass, Vance spent the rest of the day in separate meetings, including with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. He also met with European Union Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Italy’s Premier Giorgia Meloni, who said she hoped the trialateral meeting could be a “new beginning.”
In the evening, Meloni spoke by phone with U.S. President Donald Trump and several other European leaders ahead of Trump’s expected call with Russia’s President Vladimir Putin on Monday, according to a statement from Meloni’s office.
Leo, the former Cardinal Robert Prevost, is a Chicago-born Augustinian missionary who spent the bulk of his ministry in Chiclayo, a commercial city of around 800,000 on Peru’s northern Pacific coast.
In the days since his May 8 election, Leo has vowed “every effort” to help bring peace to Ukraine. He also has emphasized his continuity with Pope Francis, who made caring for migrants and the poor a priority of his pontificate.
Before his election, Prevost shared news articles on X that were critical of the Trump administration’s plans for mass deportations of migrants.
Vance was one of the last foreign officials to meet with Francis before the Argentine pope’s April 21 death. The two had tangled over migration, with Francis publicly rebuking the Trump administration’s deportation plan and correcting Vance’s theological justification for it.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( JD Vance gives Pope Leo a Chicago-themed gift during meeting at Vatican )
Also on site :