�[EXTERNAL]�VP pool report #7 4/18: St. Peter’s Basilica

At 4:54 p.m., the vice president entered Saint Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City, where he is attending a Good Friday service. (Your pooler has confirmed with the relevant experts here that the Celebration of the Lord’s Passion is technically not a mass.)

They walked from the front of the basilica as a hymn was being sung. VP was carrying his younger son Vivek, and the second lady was carrying Mirabel. Ewan walked beside them. They are seated up front, just outside the ornate dome above.

In the Christian faith, Good Friday marks the day Christ died by crucifixion. The gospel scriptures say the daytime sky became dark as it happened; the service VP Vance is attending is intended to be a particularly solemn one.

Pool has been advised that the two-hour service will be held in Latin. It’s unclear how conversant VP is in the language, though your pooler recalls that the vice president is familiar with the term “ordo amoris,” Latin for “order of love.” (Google it, as the vice has previously advised.)

And for a more recent X post from VP Vance,�he wrote�this before arriving this evening, on the topic of being in Rome on Good Friday:

“I’m grateful every day for this job, but particularly today where my official duties have brought me to Rome on Good Friday. I had a great meeting with Prime Minister Meloni and her team, and will head to church soon with my family in this beautiful city.�

I wish all Christians all over the world, but particularly those back home in the US, a blessed Good Friday.�

He died so that we might live.”

The Vatican is live streaming the service�here.�

—

Natalie Allison

White House Reporter

The Washington Post

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