Vice President JD Vance will address the 20th annual National Catholic Prayer Breakfast on Friday in Washington, D.C., The Daily Wire has learned.
Vance, a Catholic convert who speaks openly about his faith, will deliver remarks at the Washington Hilton. The vice president has attended the event as a guest in the past as a United States senator, but this will mark the first time he attends as vice president.
“I am honored to be able to address the 20th annual National Catholic Prayer Breakfast and represent the Trump administration’s support for people of faith across the United States,” Vance told The Daily Wire. “Last year, I was moved to witness the joyful devotion of over a thousand Catholics praying for the future and success of our country. Thanks to their faithful prayers, President Trump’s leadership has restored the hopes and dreams of the American people and our great nation is on the path to peace and prosperity once more.”
Former Vice President Mike Pence spoke at the prayer breakfast in 2017, shortly after President Donald Trump took office. Some of the event’s past speakers include former Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, Cardinal Robert Sarah, Texas Governor Greg Abbott, Cardinal Sean O’Malley, the late Justice Antonin Scalia, former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, and former President George Bush.
Mother Assumpta Long, President George W. Bush, and National Catholic Breakfast President Joseph Cella in 2006.
Congressman Chris Smith will be awarded the “Christifideles Laici Award,” The Daily Wire has learned, an award created by the NCPB in 2019 to highlight the good works of Catholics in public life. The award builds off former Pope John Paul II’s instruction to “spread the Gospel in ways that are new in ardor, methods and expression,” as well as his charge that Catholics “to stir and promote a deeper awareness among all the faithful of the gift and responsibility they share, both as a group and as individuals, in the communion and mission of the Church.”
The NCPB is advertising a theme of “hope” for this year’s breakfast, describing the sentiment of millions of Catholics across the United States heading into this new administration.
The breakfast also comes as Pope Francis remains in critical condition in a hospital in Rome, giving rise to serious questions about the Holy Father’s health and the future of the Catholic Church.