Pope Francis passed away hours after he met with Vice President JD Vance, sparking a flurry of dark memes and jokes online.
While a cause of death was not immediately available, the Pope’s health struggles had recently dominated headlines. Pope Francis had been released from the hospital less than a month ago following a five-week stay for life-threatening double pneumonia.
“At 7:35 this morning (local time), the Bishop of Rome, Francis, returned to the house of the Father. His entire life was dedicated to the service of the Lord and His Church,” Cardinal Kevin Farrell announced in a statement on Monday.
The Pope’s passing came soon after he briefly met with Vance to exchange Easter greetings on Sunday.
The Pope, who previously condemned the Trump administration’s anti-migrant policies and appeared to criticize Vance’s theology, did not attend the Vatican’s official meeting with Vance on Saturday.
Now, the internet is joking that Vance killed the Pope—or at the very least, his presence did.
The comment section of an early Monday X post from Vance mourning the Pope’s passing is flooded with replies questioning “what did you do.”
Another commenter posted an AI-generated image of the Pope next to Vance, styled as the Grim Reaper.
A similar meme depicted lasers coming out of Vance’s eyes as he greeted the Pope.
“This you?” mocked another poster.
“pope met you and said he had enough,” quipped another X user.
Others darkly joked that Vance should meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin next.
“Do you have any plans to meet with Putin any time soon?” jabbed one person.
“I have a list of people you need to visit ASAP,” echoed someone else.
“Where are you going next?” questioned someone else, who shared a meme mash-up of a babyface Vance as the Grim Reaper.
Joked another commenter: “I would like to cancel our meeting. Thank you.”
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