Vice President JD Vance and Second Lady Usha paused political events during their three-day trip in Israel to spend time praying at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, believed by many to be built on the site where Jesus Christ was crucified, later buried, and ultimately resurrected. The Vice President posted a video to social media capturing highlights from his visit.
As with many aspects of Christianity, there is a divide among Catholics and Protestants as to where exactly these Biblical events transpired. According to Catholic faith, of which Vance is part, the body of Christ was crucified at the site where the church now rests and was prepared on a sacred stone slab found within the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and His body was later rested in the same area.
Protestants, however, place the site of Calvary outside the Old City in what is called the Garden Tomb. Regardless, both sites are immensely sacred to those of the Christian faith, and the significance of the slab where His body was prepared and possibly buried, wherever they ultimately occurred, still draws members of the faith to the Church to worship and pray for their Savior.
“Vice President Vance and Second Lady Usha Vance visited the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the site of Christ’s crucifixion and resurrection, in Jerusalem this week,” the vice president posted on X on October 23rd, shortly after his special visit to the church. Watch a highlight reel prepared and shared by his team below:
The news outlet Breitbart shared that Vance was in Israel for a short trip to “show solidarity” with the American ally in the wake of President Donald Trump’s historic peace arrangement between it and neighboring Gaza, led by Hamas. “Vance, who is on a three-day trip to Israel with his wife to show solidarity with the Jewish state and to shore up support for President Donald Trump’s ceasefire deal in Gaza, recently converted to the Catholic faith,” the conservative news media company reported.
Breitbart added that Vance marked the visit with a common practice of believers. “He paused to kneel, as many pilgrims do, at the slab that is said to have been the stone where Jesus’s body was placed before being cleansed in preparation for traditional burial rites, prior to His later resurrection.”
The visit to Israel, providing an opportunity for Vance to prayer and be a visual reminder of support for the world’s lone Jewish state, also coincided with the demand to return the remains of 28 hostages killed by Hamas after their horrific October 7th attack two years ago. As part of the peace deal negotiated by President Trump, the terrorist organization is required to repatriate the bodies their families.
At time of writing, reports suggest just half of the 28 bodies have been returned, with Hamas acknowledging the missing bodies have been difficult to locate.
Featured image: Screen shot from embedded video