U.S. Vice President JD Vance spoke at the National Catholic Prayer Breakfast on Friday in Washington and stated that he believed U.S. President Donald Trump was "an incredibly good president for Catholics in the United States of America," while also acknowledging Trump's stance on "protecting the rights of pro-life protesters." Vance also voiced that Catholic Americans were praying for Pope Francis, who is recovering from pneumonia in a hospital in Rome, and spoke on Francis' comments regarding the Trump administration's immigration policy. "As you've probably seen publicly, the Holy Father, Pope Francis, has criticised some of our policies when it comes to immigration," Vance said. "I think that what I would say is that it's not in the best interest of any of us, again, to treat the religious leaders of our faith as just another social media influencer. And I think, frankly, that goes in both ways, if I can be so bold, I think it's incumbent upon our religious leaders to recognise that in the era of social media, people will hang on every single word that they utter, even if that wasn't their intention and even if a given declaration wasn't meant for consumption in the social media age," he added. The annual gathering began in 2004 and has seen various speakers including former U.S. Vice President Mike Pence and former Archbishop of Boston, Cardinal Sean O’Malley.