JD Vance heads to Rome - could he meet Pope Francis?

The US vice-president will meet Italy's prime minister but an audience at the Vatican could also happen, the BBC learns.

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But one of his main objectives is not on the official schedule - to be seen alongside Pope Francis.

According to four sources familiar with the matter, the vice-president, a devout Roman Catholic, is hoping for at least a brief encounter with the 88-year-old pontiff, which would become the focal point of his visit.

Such a moment would carry powerful symbolic weight, politically and personally, particularly over Easter, the most important celebration in the Catholic calendar, said a source familiar with his thinking.

It could also signal a thaw in relations between the Vatican and Washington after months of tension over issues such as moral leadership and migration, with the Pope having previously said that mass deportations of people fleeing poverty or persecution damaged "the dignity of many men and women, and of entire families".