JD Vance tells Pope Leo to be careful about theology

In an interview about his memoir “Communion,” Vice President JD Vance discusses ambition, Catholic faith and family life, while addressing his public clashes involving Pope Leo and President Donald Trump’s reported views on God and heaven.

Vice President JD Vance’s faith sits close to the surface lately—so close he even brings it up when he talks about politics.

At a Turning Point USA tour event. Vance returned to a theme that’s followed him for years: the pull toward power. and the quieter need to keep that pull from turning into something selfish. In a telephone interview conducted ahead of the June 16 release of his memoir “Communion. ” he described that hunger as “blind ambition” he now calls a flaw—one his Christianity tries to push back against.

“There’s the desire to be powerful. There’s the desire to have influence or control over other people,” Vance, 41, said. “And I think that what my Christianity does is counsel me and try to force me to focus on the good.”

He is one of the youngest vice presidents in American history and is widely discussed as a potential presidential candidate, but in his book he frames ambition less as a résumé-building tool and more as a recurring temptation.

Vance said the stakes in seeking higher office are real. He pointed to “good reasons to seek any higher office. ” including a desire to serve the country and steer public policy in the right direction. But he then contrasted that with the darker motives—“what he calls the bad ones”—and said his faith is meant to redirect him.

His memoir. centered on Christian faith. is also where he revisits the inner story behind his decisions: the same drive he describes as having pushed him when he pursued a law degree at Yale. and the broader sense that society seemed to demand he chase prestige. In “Communion,” he writes that he was “blindly chasing ambition.”.

The book follows a religious path that has not been smooth, either.

Since becoming vice president last year. Vance has tussled with not one but two popes. and he has broken with the Vatican over mass migration and the war in Iran. He described his faith as an anchor rather than a stress test he would label as a trial—saying he does not want to characterize his choices since taking office as proof that his beliefs are being shaken.

Instead, he said he tries to “make wise decisions and moral decisions.”

Vance’s Catholicism is relatively new. He converted in 2019 after rediscovering Christianity over the course of several years. Even then, he draws a boundary around how far he will go telling others how to live out their faith.

That restraint extends into his own home.

His wife. Usha Vance. is Hindu. and the couple—expecting a baby boy in July—are raising their soon-to-be four children with room for different beliefs. Their small children attend a Catholic school in Washington, DC, but the Vances allow them to pick their own religion. Their oldest, Ewan, 9, chose to be baptized.

The family structure has also been under scrutiny in recent months.

Last October, Vance generated criticism after he said he’d like to see his spouse convert to Christianity. He later acknowledged it’s unlikely to happen. In his memoir, he writes that Usha encouraged him to reconnect with his religion.

Usha Vance also publicly pushed back against gossip about their marriage in an interview in December, describing her Hindu faith openly. She said her family celebrated the religious significance of Christmas in her youth, and she described exchanging gifts in Southern California with friends.

The Vances’ routine offers a quieter picture of how their beliefs coexist. They attend Mass together with their children most weeks. That practice stands in contrast to President Donald Trump, a nondenominational Christian who does not go to church.

Trump’s faith has often appeared in the public record in his own way. He shared a belief that he was “saved by God” during an assassination attempt at a Butler. Pennsylvania. rally on the eve of the Republican National Convention in 2024. Less than 48 hours later, Trump announced his choice of Vance—a one-time critic-turned-supporter—as his running mate.

A day after the two leaders were inaugurated on Jan. 20, 2025, the leaders and their wives attended an inaugural prayer service.

Trump, now 80 and turning that age this month, has sometimes talked about the afterlife. In his second term, he has wondered aloud—more than once—whether he’s done enough to earn a spot in heaven.

“I want to try and get to heaven, if possible,” Trump said during an appearance on “Fox & Friends” last August. “I’m hearing I’m not doing well.”

Asked about Trump’s talk of heaven and whether the president has ever asked Vance for spiritual advice, Vance chuckles.

“No, he hasn’t. I mean, I don’t know what I would say,” he replied, describing himself as a “very imperfect Christian in my own life.”

Vance said Trump is joking when he muses about not being heaven-bound, but added that humor is built on something real.

“I also think that like all of us, he’s thinking about his own relationship with God, his own faith,” Vance said. “He is a person of faith. He doesn’t talk about it a lot publicly, but he does believe in God.”

What emerges from the details in “Communion” isn’t just a portrait of belief—it’s a portrait of how belief competes with ambition in daily life, and how faith becomes both a private compass and a public flashpoint.

Within the arc of Vance’s comments—about turning toward prestige and then fighting it. about trying to make moral decisions in office. and about managing faith differences at home—one thread keeps tightening: he wants religion to shape his choices. even while the politics around him keeps pulling his attention elsewhere.

JD Vance Communion memoir Catholic faith Pope Leo Vatican Usha Vance Trump faith heaven Turning Point USA U.S. politics