It felt like a typical Tuesday—the air in the hall was stuffy, smelling faintly of over-caffeinated coffee and stale carpet—when JD Vance decided to take aim at the Vatican. The Vice President, who found his way to Catholicism seven years ago, didn’t hold back at a recent Turning Point USA event. He essentially told Pope Leo XIV to watch his step.
“In the same way that it’s important for the vice president of the United States to be careful when I talk about matters of public policy, I think it’s very, very important for the Pope to be careful when he talks about matters of theology,” Vance told the crowd. He was clearly fired up, insisting that any theological pronouncements need to be anchored in what he views as the truth. It was a bold stance, especially considering the office involved, or maybe not—politics has always been a messy business when mixed with faith.
This friction started because of a message Pope Leo delivered recently regarding peace. The Pope had stated that God doesn’t bless any conflict, suggesting that true disciples of Christ aren’t on the side of those dropping bombs. To Vance, this didn’t sit right. He pointed toward the long-standing tradition of Just War theory, which has been debated for over a millennium. “Was God on the side of the Americans who liberated France from the Nazis? Was God on the side of the Americans who liberated Holocaust camps?” Vance asked, seemingly frustrated by the ambiguity.
He has been very open about his journey from atheism to the Catholic Church, even writing about it in his recent book. It’s a bit of a shift for him, going from non-believer to lecturing the head of the church—wait, I should rephrase that—he’s definitely vocal about his expectations for the clergy regardless of their denomination.
Meanwhile, the backdrop to all this is a bit chaotic. Trump recently sparked some backlash by posting an AI image of himself as Jesus, which he later scrubbed. Vance, true to form, just brushed it off as a bad joke that people didn’t quite get. It’s hard to keep track of these things when one day we are talking about AI memes and the next we are arguing over centuries-old theological concepts.
Trump also threw his own jab, calling the Chicago-born Pope “weak on crime,” which is certainly one way to frame a religious leader. Pope Leo XIV hasn’t even been in the chair for a full year yet, and he’s already deep in the middle of these American political crossfires. It feels like everyone is talking at once, and honestly, it’s unclear if anyone is actually listening to the other side. Just a lot of noise, I suppose.