By CHRIS MEGERIAN

WASHINGTON (AP) — One of Pope Francis’ final encounters before his death was with U.S. Vice President JD Vance, who visited the Vatican over the weekend.

The meeting took place on Easter Sunday. Vance, a Catholic convert, entered the room and reached down for the pope’s hand. “Hello,” the vice president said. “So good to see you.”

Francis was sitting in a wheelchair, and his words were inaudible in a video released by the Vatican.

“I know you’ve not been feeling great, but it’s good see you in better health,” Vance said.

A priest serving as a translator spoke for the pope.

“These are for your children,” the priest said as someone presented Vance with chocolate eggs. Next came a tray of additional gifts, including rosaries and a Vatican tie.

“Thank you,” Vance said as he held the dark tie. “So beautiful.”

They posed for a photo, Vance standing to the pope’s right before bidding him farewell.

“I pray for you every day,” Vance said. “God bless you.”

Vance’s visit was not without political sensitivities, and he met with Cardinal Pietro Parolin on Saturday for what the Vatican described as “an exchange of opinions.” The Catholic Church, under Francis’ leadership, has championed the rights of migrants, while Vance and President Donald Trump have advocated for crackdowns.

Vance’s office said the vice president and the cardinal “discussed their shared religious faith, Catholicism in the United States, the plight of persecuted Christian communities around the world, and President Trump’s commitment to restoring world peace.”

Leavitt told reporters that she had spoken to members of Vance’s team on Monday morning after Francis’ death.

“They expressed how excited and grateful they were for the opportunity to have met with the pope just yesterday,” she said.

Leavitt added that Francis “touched millions of lives throughout his tenure as the head of the Catholic Church and so it’s a solemn day for Catholics around the world and we are praying for all those who loved the pope and believed in him.”

President Donald Trump issued a statement on Truth Social: “Rest in Peace Pope Francis! May God Bless him and all who loved him!”

Vance, who continued on to India after Italy, posted additional thoughts on social media.

Related Articles

Hegseth had a second Signal chat where he shared details of Yemen strike, New York Times reports

Vance arrives in India for a 4-day visit that includes talks with Modi

More Democratic lawmakers are visiting El Salvador on Abrego Garcia’s behalf

Hegseth Said to Have Shared Attack Details in Second Signal Chat

The ‘return’ of an extinct wolf is not the answer to saving endangered species, experts warn

“I just learned of the passing of Pope Francis. My heart goes out to the millions of Christians all over the world who loved him,” he wrote on X. “I was happy to see him yesterday, though he was obviously very ill.”

Vance shared a link to remarks that Francis gave on March 27, 2020, as COVID-19 was spreading around the globe.

“I’ll always remember him for the below homily he gave in the very early days of COVID,” Vance wrote. “It was really quite beautiful.”

Francis had spoken from St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome.

“Thick darkness has gathered over our squares, our streets and our cities,” he said. “It has taken over our lives, filling everything with a deafening silence and a distressing void.”

He encouraged people to rely on their faith to help then endure “because with God life never dies.”

A 76-year-old woman died after she was struck by a teen driver in St. Paul on Sunday.

The crash happened about 3:40 p.m. at Third and Flandrau streets in the Eastview neighborhood of the East Side. St. Paul Fire Department medics took the woman to Regions Hospital, where she died soon after, said Sgt. Toy Vixayvong, a St. Paul police spokesman.

The 17-year-old driver stayed at the scene and was cooperative with the investigation, which is ongoing.

Related Articles

Foul play not suspected in deaths of 2 in vehicle at St. Paul shopping center

Authorities asking for help finding woman believed held against her will

Four-alarm fire destroys multiple buildings on Renaissance Festival grounds

Ramsey County to pay $3.6M to family of hemophiliac who died after 2022 arrest, jailing

After fire at St. Paul church, owner wants to secure steeple, return to ministering

Local Catholics will gather at noon today at the Cathedral of St. Paul to remember Pope Francis, who died at the age of 88 early Monday morning.

The Mass, which will be led by Archbishop Bernard Hebda, will be the first of the traditional nine Masses offered for the repose of his soul, according to a statement released by the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis.

“It is with profound sadness that I learned this morning of the death of our Holy Father, Pope Francis,” Hebda wrote in a statement posted Monday morning. “Along with Catholics and men and women of good will throughout the world, I gave thanks to Almighty God for his life and example, and I pray with Easter hope for the repose of his soul.

“How providential that our loving God would call Pope Francis home just as we begin our 50 days of celebrating Christ’s victory over sin and death. I trust that he felt the comforting prayers of the world as he joined the crowd in St. Peter’s Square yesterday for the Church’s celebration of Jesus’ victory over sin and death. The Holy Father’s powerful Easter greeting, expressing his closeness to those experiencing the scourge of war and abandonment will be long remembered as his testament.

“I will be grateful to Pope Francis for assigning me to serve as the Archbishop of St. Paul and Minneapolis. I have fond memories this day of all the times that he assured me of his prayers for this Archdiocese.

“I ask you to join me in praying for the Holy Father, especially over the next nine days. I ask our pastors to open their Churches today for all desiring to offer their prayers for Pope Francis and for the Church that he so generously led.”

In 2016, Pope Frances gave Hebda the pallium – a band of white wool decorated with three black symbolic “nails” – that he wears “to symbolize our province’s connection and communion with the Successor of Peter,” he wrote in a reflection and call to prayer when it was announced in February that Pope Francis’ was in critical condition.

“The wool of the pallium always serves to remind the Pope and his brother archbishops that they are supposed to be like the good shepherd who goes in search of the lost sheep, while the nails remind them of the sacrifice that Jesus, the true Good Shepherd, offered for us on the cross, calling us to embrace sacrifice as well, always while drawing our strength from the cross,” Hebda wrote.

Francis, he wrote, was “experiencing the cross in a new way.”

Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., called Pope Francis a “a voice for the voiceless.”

“The one time I saw him pray for and address the gathered at St. Peter’s Square, when he finished, he did what he always did — he greeted and blessed those with disabilities first,” she wrote in a statement posted on social media.

Related Articles

Global tributes pour in to honor Pope Francis after his death

What are the church’s rites after the death of a pope and the election of a new one?

Pope Francis dies at 88

A Scandia pastor overcame addiction. Now he confronts the stigma in a podcast aimed at faith communities.

After fire at St. Paul church, owner wants to secure steeple, return to ministering

By TARA COPP, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth created another Signal messaging chat that included his wife and brother where he shared similar details of a March military airstrike against Yemen’s Houthi militants that were sent in another chain with top Trump administration leaders, The New York Times reported.

A person familiar with the contents and those who received the messages, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive matters, confirmed the second chat to The Associated Press.

Related Articles

Vance arrives in India for a 4-day visit that includes talks with Modi

More Democratic lawmakers are visiting El Salvador on Abrego Garcia’s behalf

Hegseth Said to Have Shared Attack Details in Second Signal Chat

The ‘return’ of an extinct wolf is not the answer to saving endangered species, experts warn

Andreas Kluth: The US has Greenland (and foreign policy) exactly upside down

The second chat on Signal — which is a commercially available app not authorized to be used to communicate sensitive or classified national defense information — included 13 people, the person said. The person also confirmed the chat was dubbed “Defense ‘ Team Huddle.”

The New York Times reported that the group included Hegseth’s wife, Jennifer, who is a former Fox News producer, and his brother Phil Hegseth, who was hired at the Pentagon as a Department of Homeland Security liaison and senior adviser. Both have traveled with the defense secretary and attended high-level meetings.

The White House and Pentagon said late Sunday that disgruntled former employees were spreading false claims.

“No matter how many times the legacy media tries to resurrect the same non-story, they can’t change the fact that no classified information was shared,” said Anna Kelly, White House deputy press secretary. “Recently-fired ‘leakers’ are continuing to misrepresent the truth to soothe their shattered egos and undermine the President’s agenda, but the administration will continue to hold them accountable.”

Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell added in a post on X late Sunday that the report “relied only on the words of people who were fired this week and appear to have a motive to sabotage the Secretary and the President’s agenda. There was no classified information in any Signal chat, no matter how many ways they try to write the story.”

The revelation of the additional chat group brought new calls for Hegseth to be ousted as President Donald Trump’s administration has faced criticism for failing to take action so far against the top national security officials who discussed plans for the military strike in Signal.

“The details keep coming out. We keep learning how Pete Hegseth put lives at risk. But Trump is still too weak to fire him,” Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer posted on X. “Pete Hegseth must be fired.”

The first chat, set up by national security adviser Mike Waltz, included a number of Cabinet members and came to light because Jeffrey Goldberg, editor-in-chief of The Atlantic, was added to the group.

The contents of that chat, which The Atlantic published, shows that Hegseth listed weapons systems and a timeline for the attack on Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen last month.

Hegseth has previously contended that no classified information or war plans were shared in the chat with the journalist.

FILE – U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth speaks during the Central American Security Conference in Panama City, April 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix, file)

The Times reported Sunday that the second chat had the same warplane launch times that the first chat included. Multiple former and current officials have said sharing those operational details before a strike would have certainly been classified and their release could have put pilots in danger.

Hegseth’s use of Signal and the sharing of such plans are under investigation by the Defense Department’s acting inspector general. It came at the request of the leadership of the Senate Armed Services Committee — Republican Chairman Roger Wicker of Mississippi and ranking Democratic member Jack Reed of Rhode Island.

Reed urged the Pentagon watchdog late Sunday to probe the reported second Signal chat as well, saying that Hegseth “must immediately explain why he reportedly texted classified information that could endanger American servicemembers’ lives.”

“I have grave concerns about Secretary Hegseth’s ability to maintain the trust and confidence of U.S. servicemembers and the Commander-in-Chief,” he added.

The new revelations come during further turmoil at the Pentagon. Four officials in Hegseth’s inner circle departed last week as the Pentagon conducts a widespread investigation for information leaks.

Dan Caldwell, a Hegseth aide; Colin Carroll, chief of staff to Deputy Defense Secretary Stephen Feinberg; and Darin Selnick, Hegseth’s deputy chief of staff, were escorted out of the Pentagon.

While the three initially had been placed on leave pending the investigation, a joint statement shared by Caldwell on X on Saturday said the three “still have not been told what exactly we were investigated for, if there is still an active investigation, or if there was even a real investigation of ‘leaks’ to begin with.”

Caldwell was the staff member designated as Hegseth’s point person in the Signal chat with Trump Cabinet members.

Former Pentagon spokesman John Ullyot also announced he was resigning last week, unrelated to the leaks. The Pentagon said, however, that Ullyot was asked to resign.

AP writer Michelle L. Price in Washington contributed to this report.