United States | News & Politics

Not long before what would turn out to be his final public appearance, a blessing of the crowds who had gathered for Easter Sunday mass in St Peter’s Square and an unexpected popemobile tour of the piazza, Pope Francis received a devout if perhaps unlikely visitor.

Among the last people to see and speak to the pontiff in the hours before his death early on Monday morning was the US vice-president, JD Vance, a zealous, albeit comparatively recent, convert to Roman Catholicism.

The pair met on Sunday morning at the Domus Santa Marta guest house, the down-to-earth lodgings where Francis lived during his 12-year papacy. According to statements from the Vatican and Vance’s office, the two men spoke for a few minutes to exchange Easter greetings, and the 88-year-old pope gave the vice-president rosaries, a Vatican tie and three big chocolate Easter eggs, one for each of his children.