'Pretty crazy': JD Vance opens up about meeting Pope Francis hours before his death

Vice President JD Vance has broken his silence after two days of brutal trolling on social media about being among the last few visitors that Pope Francis met hours before his death. While people have started congratulating him, many people called him anti-Christian and blamed him for the Pope's death. As Vance was in India with his family, he opened up about the coincidence and said he thought about it a lot in the past two days.

Vance said it was pretty crazy but a great blessing for him that he could meet the Pope in his final hours. "I've thought a lot about that. I mean, it's pretty crazy, actually," Vance said. "And, obviously, when I saw him, I didn't know that he had less than 24 hours still on this earth. I think it was a great blessing."

Vance was one of the last officials to meet with Francis. The vice president, who is Catholic, held formal talks with the Vatican's secretary of state over the weekend before an informal face-to-face with Francis the following day. Francis' death on April 21 came less than 24 hours after he met with Vance.

"I was lucky that I got to shake his hand and tell him that I pray for him every day, because I did," Vance said.