U.S. Vice President JD Vance, a Catholic who has clashed with Pope Francis over the Trump administration's immigration policies, took part in a religious service at the Vatican on Friday but the convalescing pope did not attend.

The Vatican on Thursday opened the most solemn period of Holy Week with a recovering Pope Francis largely on the sidelines, as cardinals were designated to take his place presiding over the most important liturgical services leading up to Easter.

Vance’s visit to the seat of Catholicism during the Church’s holiest days of the year comes under the shadow of his public tiff with an ailing Pope Francis and in the wake of