J.D. Vance Did Not Lecture Pope on Migration, Book Details Show

Headlines in some German-language quality media have misleadingly suggested that U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance lectured Pope Francis and the Vatican on migration in his new book, "Communion."

The book recounts a 2025 meeting Vance had with Vatican diplomats, including Cardinal Pietro Parolin, where the topic of migration was discussed. Parolin acknowledged a nation's right to control its borders but stressed the importance of humane treatment for undocumented migrants. Vance stated he did not find the Cardinal's stance "unsettling" because of its critical nature, but rather due to the "general formulation of his position," which he felt lacked a willingness to evolve moral guidelines beyond "trite platitudes."

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Here I was, the most senior Catholic in the United States government, and the Vatican seemed unwilling to move its moral guidance past the point of trite platitudes.

Vance expressed concern that an institution with the moral authority and global perspective to address migration seemed hesitant to say anything controversial, opting for abstract language that was "too abstract to be helpful." He noted that he, as the most senior Catholic in the U.S. government, encountered a Vatican seemingly unwilling to move its moral guidance past clichés.

In contrast, Vance praises Pope Francis himself, who had directly and openly criticized Vance's views on immigration. Vance writes that he never shared the "skeptical" view of Francis held by some conservative Catholics, preferring the Pope's concrete admonitions over the ambiguity he experienced in the Vatican meeting. He valued an honest conversation over one where parties hid behind clichés.

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I’m sure they avoided specifics out of a desire to be, well, diplomatic, but what they said was too abstract to be helpful.