Holy Week is a time when the pope would be expected to be front and center of events. But as Francis continues to recover from double pneumonia, observers are on the lookout for surprise appearances.

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

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.