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For decades, the Vatican and the White House have maintained close ties for many years, with various popes and presidents gathering together in the country’s capital and Vatican city.
Pope Francis passed away on Easter Monday at the age of 88 after years of health problems, including chronic lung disease. Francis was the head of the Roman Catholic Church from 2013 until his death, and met three US presidents during his tenure.
Francis’ last prominent meeting with the US leadership was when Vice President J.D. Vance traveled to Italy for an Easter holiday and met with the Pope on the most holy day for Christians.
“I know you didn’t feel good, but it’s good to see you better in good health,” Vance told Pontife on Sunday.
The leader of the faith reflects on Pope Francis’ death, the Pope, and his lasting legacy: “Making His Mark.”
The person holds the portrait of the late Pope Francis, whom he worshiped as a youth, following the announcement of the Vatican’s death on Monday, April 21, 2025.
“I pray for you every day,” Vance said. “god bless you.”
After Francis’ death, Fox News Digital looked back at the prominent meetings and friendships that the Vatican and the White House have forged over the years.
Reagan and Pope John Paul II are trying to stop communism
During the Cold War of 1982, President Ronald Reagan and Pope John Paul II met at the Vatican a few years before the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and the Soviet Union dissolved in 1991.
Photo Gallery: Pope Francis for many years
Pope John Paul II greets President Ronald Reagan and First Lady Nancy Reagan on his visit to the Vatican. (Corvis/Corvis via Getty Images)
The meeting was the first time the President and Pope met alone behind a closed door, a 1982 article in which a 1982 visit was reported, and came a year after both of them survived an attempted assassination in 1981 weeks apart.
Two years later, the pair met again in Fairbanks, Alaska, putting the message of world peace at the edge as tensions between the Communist Eastern Region and the capitalist West Bloc.
“In a violent world, in your holiness, you were the minister of peace and love. Your words, your prayers, your examples have made you a source of comfort, inspiration and hope for those who suffered from the oppression and violence of war,” Reagan said. “For this historic ministry, Americans are grateful to you. We wish you all the encouragement of your journey for peace and understanding of the world.”
The friendship between the two world leaders was rooted in a dislike of communism, socialism and atheism that seized the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. The Pope and Reagan administration worked closely to promote Poland’s solidarity and labor movement, and John Paul II’s home country encouraged citizens to reject communism in the Soviet satellite state, the Associated Press previously reported.
President Ronald Reagan and Pope John Paul II meet with US and Vatican officials at Fairbanks International Airport on May 2, 1984 in Alaska. (David Hume Kennerley/Getty Images)
The Vatican denied a formal alliance with the United States during the promotion of a solidarity labor movement, but recently Pope John Paul II and Reagan shared a common goal of fighting totalitarianism, The Associated Press reported in 2004.
Reagan and John Paul II united for purpose
In 1989, Poland became the first country in a half-block, holding a semi-free election, which resulted in an overwhelming victory in the solidarity movement, leading to the dissolution of Poland’s communist government. 1989 became known as the year when communism fell, and this victory brought a domino effect to other countries. Later that year, it included the destruction of the Berlin Wall and the final end of the 1991 Soviet Union.
President Ronald Reagan sits with Pope John Paul II of the Vizcaya Mansion. (Diana Walker/Getty Images)
“Pope John Paul II and President Reagan worked together to put an end to atheistic Soviet communism,” former Republican Gov. Scott Walker wrote in the 2020 Washington Times of Reagan and Pope John Paul II. “The two had God’s plan to stop the Soviet Empire, which was engaged in a war between religion and individual freedom. The work of the Pope and the President led to the collapse of communism, giving more freedom and opportunities to people around the world.”
Woodrow Wilson, 28th President, Pope Benedict XV met in 1919 (Getty Images)
Wilson becomes the first president to meet the Pope
In 1919, Democrat Woodrow Wilson opened the door to normalizing open communication between the city of Washington and Vatican, becoming the first US president to meet with the Pope.
Wilson traveled through Europe following the end of World War I, and according to an article published in the Catholic magazine America that year, “was called for his sacred Pope Benedict XV.”
Vance was one of Pope Francis’ last visitors
“The President’s arrival was announced by the Master of the Royal Room. “The President was soon recognized for the presence of his Holy Father, and he welcomed him most sincerely. They spent about 30 minutes together. Of course, they didn’t officially know what the subject they discussed was.”
The conference came at the turn of the century at the time of ongoing anti-Catholic sentiment caused by the influx of Catholic immigrants, but set the standard for president to develop relations with the Vatican, but such conferences were not normalized until decades later.
Audiences with Pope Dwight D. Eisenhower John XXIII, his stepdaughter, Barbara Eisenhower Thompson, Vatican City, December 1959.
Eisenhower meets Pope John XXIII
Meetings with the Pope were not common until 1959, when President Dwight Eisenhower visited Pope John XXIII during a tour of Italy and various countries, including the office of historian documents.
The second meeting between the Pope and the President set a new tradition.
Since Eisenhower, all presidents have met with the current Pope, and have held a total of 32 meetings in both the US and Vatican City since 1959, Fox Digital discovered.
Pope John Paul II is welcomed to the White House by President Jimmy Carter. (Michael Norusia/Sigma via Getty Images)
First Pope Visit to the White House
During President Jimmy Carter’s administration, clergy traveled to Washington and joined the president for a meeting at the White House.
Pope John Paul II was invited to the White House in 1979 during his first Pope Pilgrimage to the United States. He was well received by American Catholics, called “John Paul, Superstar, Superstar,” and the Time Magazine crowd was portrayed in Time Magazine as he portrayed during his visits to Boston, New York and Denver.
Pope Francis’s business and long-standing economic views
“Sharing respect for human rights and belief in individual dignity must be the basis of the nation’s national and international policy, and the Pope and President emphasized support for international organizations and organizations that serve the international contracts on human rights and the causes of human rights,” the Carter administration said in a statement at the time of the visit. “They agree that the international community must mobilize its concerns and resources to address the issue of refugees, protect human rights, and prevent hunger and hunger.”
Popes visiting the White House were rarer than presidents visiting the Vatican. Pope Benedict visited the White House in 2008 when he celebrated his 81st birthday with President George W. Bush, while Francis traveled to the White House in 2015 to meet President Barack Obama. No other Popes have seen the president in the White House.
Pope Francis will meet President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump at the Apostles Palace on May 24, 2017 in Vatican City. (Vatican Pool/Getty Images)
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President Donald Trump, who clashed with Pope Francis over environmental and political policies, will travel to the Vatican later this week to attend the Pope’s funeral mass.
“Melania and I will be at the funeral of Pope Francis in Rome. We look forward to being there!” the president posted on Monday to Truth Society.
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