Pope Francis receives U.S. Vice President JD Vance, left, before bestowing the Urbi et Orbi (Latin for to the city and to the world) blessing at the end of the Easter mass presided over by Cardinal Angelo Comastri in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican Sunday, April 20, 2025. (Vatican Media via AP)
"My heart goes out to the millions of Christians all over the world who loved him. I was happy to see him yesterday, though he was obviously very ill," Vance said in a post on X on Monday. "But I’ll always remember him for the below homily he gave in the very early days of COVID. It was really quite beautiful. May God rest his soul."
Trump also signed an executive order Monday ordering all U.S. flags be flown at half-staff on all public buildings and grounds, at all military posts and naval stations, and on all naval vessels to remember Francis. The order also applies to all U.S. embassies, legations, consular offices, and other facilities abroad, including military facilities and naval vessels and stations.
Here’s a look at Pope Francis’ legacy with other U.S. leaders:
Pope Francis met with former President Barack Obama at the Vatican in March 2014. The two met again in September of the following year during Pope Francis’ visit to the White House, where the pope delivered a statement urging action on climate change. Following his visit to the White House, Francis also visited New York City and Philadelphia.
Obama issued a statement Monday morning lauding the pope for his leadership.
POPE FRANCIS EXPOSES CONFIDENTIAL DETAILS ABOUT HIS ELECTION AND RELATIONSHIPS IN LENGTHY INTERVIEW
Pope Francis meets President Donald Trump in the Private Library of the Apostolic Palace in Vatican City on May 24, 2017. (Vatican/Pool/Galazka/Archivio Grzegorz Galazka/Mondadori via Getty Images)
In response, Trump said: "For a religious leader to question a person’s faith is disgraceful."
Pope Francis routinely issued similar statements, and in February penned a letter to U.S. Catholic bishops and voiced concern about the Trump administration’s mass deportation plans.
"The act of deporting people who in many cases have left their own land for reasons of extreme poverty, insecurity, exploitation, persecution or serious deterioration of the environment, damages the dignity of many men and women, and of entire families, and places them in a state of particular vulnerability and defenselessness," Pope Francis said in the letter.
Former President Joe Biden, the second Catholic U.S. president, visited the Vatican in October 2021, where he and Pope Francis met to discuss topics including climate change and advocacy for the poor, according to a readout of the meeting.
Biden had previously met Pope Francis on several other occasions, including during the pope’s visit to the U.S. in 2015.
Biden also met with Pope Francis in June at the G7 Leaders’ Summit in Apulia, Italy, where the two discussed the ongoing Israel-Hamas war, the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, and the conflict between Ukraine and Russia, according to a readout of the meeting.
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Pope Francis meets President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden at the Apostolic Palace on Oct. 29, 2021 in Vatican City, Vatican. (Vatican Media via Vatican Pool/Getty Images)
Biden, who awarded Pope Francis the Presidential Medal of Freedom in January, described him as a "consequential" leader on Monday who was a "Pope for everyone."
"He was unlike any who came before him," Biden said in a post on X Monday morning. "Pope Francis will be remembered as one of the most consequential leaders of our time and I am better for having known him. For decades, he served the most vulnerable across Argentina and his mission of serving the poor never ceased. As Pope, he was a loving pastor and challenging teacher who reached out to different faiths."
Fox News' Emma Colton contributed to this report.
Diana Stancy is a politics reporter with Fox News Digital covering the White House.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/pope-francis-us-presidents-look-back-his-legacy-us-leaders