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

Pope Francis kept annual Holy Week appointment visiting dozens of inmates in a Rome prison on Thursday. The 88-year-old is still recovering from pneumonia.

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.