Did Pope Leo XIV 'shoo' away JD Vance and his wife?

After footage emerged of JD Vance meeting Pope Leo XIV, people are speculating over whether the Pope “shooed” Vance away.

The US vice-president and the newly-elected Pope met briefly on Sunday (18 May) at the Vatican at the end of Sunday’s inaugural Mass.

Vance was joined at the Vatican by his wife, Usha, and it was at the end of Mass when they went to greet the newly-inaugurated Pope that people online think he snubbed them during the procession line.

It comes after the Pope, then-cardinal Robert Prevos, previously openly criticised the Donald Trump administration, including both Trump and Vance directly, over their stance on immigration.

A clip of their brief, 17-second interaction has gone viral and was shared on X/Twitter with the caption, “The way Pope Leo XIV just shooed JD Vance and his wife away with a single hand gesture telling them to move along is hilarious.”

In the video, the Pope shook JD Vance’s hand, then Usha Vance’s hand. They appeared to share a few words before the Vances walked away.

One person wrote: “Makes me love Pope Leo XIV even more! Lol, zero poker face going on. Look at how his jaw is set and the disgust he isn’t able to hide. Love to see it. The honesty is so refreshing.”

Another said: “I like this pope already.”

Someone else wrote: “The way he squared them shoulders afterwards.”

One person said: “Pope Leo I wasn’t familiar with your game.”

By stark contrast, Pope Leo held a private meeting with Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his wife after Sunday’s Mass – the first world leader to have a private audience with him.

In his sermon speech, the Pope criticised the political climate of hatred.

“In this our time, we still see too much discord, too many wounds caused by hatred, violence, prejudice, the fear of difference, and an economic paradigm that exploits the Earth’s resources and marginalizes the poorest,” the Pope said.

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