“What an amazing blessing to have visited the site of Christ’s death and resurrection,” JD Vance said after his visit to the Basilica of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem.
By Catholics for Catholics
Vice President JD Vance’s mission to Israel was to guarantee that the peace deal between that country and Gaza remained firm, but he also made sure to stop at the holiest site in all of Christendom: The Church of the Holy Sepulchre.
The basilica holds, among other things, the places where the crucifixion and tomb of Christ happened. The church was built by Constantine in the fourth century, burned by the Persians in the seventh century, destroyed by an Islamic caliph in the 11th century and rebuilt by the Crusaders in the 12th century.
“What an amazing blessing to have visited the site of Christ’s death and resurrection,” the vice president said after his visit. “I am immensely grateful to the Greek, Armenian, and Catholic priests who care for this most sacred of places. May the Prince of Peace have mercy on us, and bless our efforts for peace.”
Vance converted to the Catholic Church in 2019 and to many he has embodied traditional Catholicism ever since. He was baptized by a Dominican priest.
Writing in the Catholic journal “The Lamp,” in their Easter 2020 edition, Vance wrote: “I needed to pray more, to participate in the sacramental life of the Church, to confess and to repent publicly, no matter how awkward that might be. And I needed grace. I needed, in other words, to become Catholic, not merely to think about it.”
Vance and his wife, Usha, spent about 90 minutes inside the Basilica, where he went to confession and attended a private mass, according to The Daily Wire.
JUST IN: V.P. JD Vance visits the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem.
— Catholics for Catholics 🇺🇲 (@CforCatholics) October 23, 2025
“What an amazing blessing to have visited the site of Christ's death and resurrection. I am immensely grateful to to the Greek, Armenian, and Catholic priests who care for this most sacred of places.
May the Prince… pic.twitter.com/2KbjeQnesB
The Vice President and his wife stopped by all the main sites inside the church, according to the vice president’s print pooler, starting with the Stone of the Anointing, where a bishop placed a red pillow for the vice president to kneel on. Vance knelt, made the sign of the cross, bowed his head, put his hand on the slab, and prayed, as Usha observed as he venerated the Holy Sepulchre.
Once at Calvary, both husband and wife lit a candle. Downstairs, they also lit a candle transferred from a candle from the tomb of Christ, signifying that the flame from their candles came from the candles within the Holy Sepulchre.
According to The Wire, a bishop who spoke with Vance’s press pooler, Francesca Chambers of USA Today, shared that he was lighting two white candles from the flame that he intended to send back to the White House. That bishop was the superior of the Armenian side of the church.
“We are sending these lights to the White House,” the bishop told Chambers. “May God bless America, the United States and Armenia and our friendship.”
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