The day before he died, Pope Francis met with Vice President J.D. Vance and used his Easter blessing to continue his call for kindness toward migrants.

Francis encouraged Catholics to be welcoming to people “who come from distant lands” in his Easter blessing. “How much contempt is stirred up at times towards the vulnerable, the marginalized, and migrants!” he said.

“On this day, I would like all of us to hope anew and to revive our trust in others, including those who are different than ourselves, or who come from distant lands, bringing unfamiliar customs, ways of life and ideas! For all of us are children of God!”

Francis, the first Latin American Pope, has made not-so-subtle jabs at the Trump administration before. In 2016, Francis called anyone who supports building walls “not Christian” during a visit to Mexico near the U.S. border, at which point Donald Trump made the puzzling statement that when the Vatican is attacked by ISIS they will wish that Trump had been president. More recently, in February, the Pope admonished Vance’s use of church doctrine to rationalize the Trump administration’s cruel treatment of immigrants. 

The Pope also met with Vance, who converted to Catholicism in 2019. The Pope gave him chocolate Easter eggs for his children along with a Vatican tie and rosaries. 

“I know you have not been feeling great but it’s good to see you in better health,” Vance told Francis, who had been recovering from pneumonia. The vice president’s motorcade was in the Vatican for 17 minutes, according to the Associated Press. 

Vance had perhaps a more substantive meeting with Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican’s number two official, on Saturday. They discussed immigration. 

“There was an exchange of opinions on the international situation, especially regarding countries affected by war, political tensions and difficult humanitarian situations, with particular attention to migrants, refugees, and prisoners,” according to a statement from the Vatican. “Finally, hope was expressed for serene collaboration between the state and the Catholic Church in the United States, whose valuable service to the most vulnerable people was acknowledged.”

In February, Francis appeared to slam the Trump administration when he wrote in a letter that church doctrine instructs its followers to be welcoming toward migrants. “I have followed closely the major crisis that is taking place in the United States with the initiation of a program of mass deportations,” he wrote. “The rightly formed conscience cannot fail to make a critical judgment and express its disagreement with any measure that tacitly or explicitly identifies the illegal status of some migrants with criminality.”

“What is built on the basis of force, and not on the truth about the equal dignity of every human being, begins badly and will end badly,” he added.

A few weeks earlier, Vance cited Catholic theology to rationalize prioritizing Americans over non-citizens. “Just google ‘ordo amoris,’” he wrote on X, defending a statement he made on Fox News. Ordo amoris says, according to ancient theologian St. Augustine, that all people are to be loved equally, but that you should prioritize those who have a closer connection to you “since you cannot do good to all.”

Francis clarified the meaning of the idea in his February letter. “Christian love is not a concentric expansion of interests that little by little extend to other persons and groups … The true ordo amoris that must be promoted is that which we discover by meditating constantly on the parable of the ‘Good Samaritan’… that is, by meditating on the love that builds a fraternity open to all, without exception.”

Later that month, at the National Catholic Prayer Breakfast in Washington, Vance referred to himself as a “baby Catholic” and said there are “things about the faith that I don’t know.”

“I just learned of the passing of Pope Francis,” Vance posted on X early Monday. “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 … May God rest his soul.”