19/05/2025 13:20
The Guardian
Unclear what US president can achieve after direct talks between Russia and Ukraine ended without conclusionJD Vance extended an invitation to Pope Leo XIV to visit the United States during a meeting at the Vatican on Monday ahead of a flurry of US-led diplomatic efforts to make progress on a ceasefire in Russia’s war in Ukraine, the Associated Press reports. Vance gave the first American pope a letter from Donald Trump and the first lady inviting him. The Chicago-born pope took the letter and put it on his desk and was heard saying “at some point”, in the video footage of the meeting provided by Vatican Media. Vance, who converted to Catholicism in 2019, also gave the Augustinian pope a copy of two of St Augustine’s most seminal works, The City of God and On Christian Doctrine, the vice-president’s office said. Another gift: A Chicago Bears T-shirt with Leo’s name on it. “As you can probably imagine, people in the United States are extremely excited about you,” Vance told Leo as they exchanged gifts. Leo gave Vance a bronze sculpture with the words in Italian “Peace is a fragile flower”, and a coffee-table sized picture book of the papal apartments in the Apostolic Palace. Leo noted that Francis had chosen not to live in them and added: “And I may live in, but it’s not totally decided.” Vance led the US delegation to Sunday’s formal mass opening the pontificate of the first American pope. Joining him at the meeting on Monday was secretary of state Marco Rubio, also a Catholic, Vance spokesperson Luke Schroeder said. The two then also met with the Vatican foreign minister, Archbishop Paul Gallagher. “There was an exchange of views on some current international issues, calling for respect for humanitarian law and international law in areas of conflict and for a negotiated solution between the parties involved,” according to a Vatican statement after their meeting. After greeting Leo briefly at the end of Sunday’s mass, Vance spent the rest of the day in separate meetings, including with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy. He also met with European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen and Italy’s premier Giorgia Meloni, who said she hoped the trilateral meeting could be a “new beginning”. In the evening, Meloni spoke by phone with Trump and several other European leaders ahead of Trump’s expected call with Vladimir Putin today, according to a statement from Meloni’s office.Donald Trump’s bid to gut the top US consumer watchdog has left the agency unable to protect consumers amid mounting fears of recession, according to workers.And we are on the verge of another major financial crisis, so it’s terrifying. The one thing we were created to do we can’t do – at a time when we’re most needed.We have helped millions of people. We have returned billions of dollars. It isn’t the way it has to be that there is nowhere to turn to when a bank or credit card rips you off. That is something everyone is exposed to. That’s what’s heartbreaking to me about the possibility of my job disappearing. Continue reading...
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