Devout Catholic JD Vance joins White House confrontation and has a go on the Pope
Vance brushed off Christian criticisms of the President’s unholy attack on the Pope and a bizarre AI image of himself as Jesus as he told the leader of the Catholic Church to stay out of US policy
Vance met the Pope last year(Image: Getty Images)
Devout Catholic JD Vance has joined the White House war of words with the Pope – by telling him to stay out of American affairs. The US Vice President, who converted to Catholicism in 2019, brushed off Christian backlash about Donald Trump’s attack on the pontiff.
He told Fox News: “In some cases, it would be best for the Vatican to stick to matters of morality, to stick to matters of what’s going on in the Catholic Church. Let the President of the United States stick to dictating American public policy.”
It comes after Trump sparked a holy war after posting a jaw-dropping AI-generated image online depicting himself as Jesus.
The Orange Manbaby, who later deleted the photo, blamed “fake news” for comparing the image to Jesus and refused to apologise to Pope Leo. He said: “I thought I was meant to be a doctor. Only the fake news could come up with that one.”
But Christian supporters labelled it “disgusting”, while opponents accused him of being “unhinged”. Security expert Professor Anthony Glees branded Trump “actually insane” accused him of disrespecting the head of the Catholic Church.
But Vance downplayed the row, telling the right-wing TV channel: “I think the President was posting a joke and of course he took it down because a lot of people weren’t understanding his humour in that case.
“When it comes to disagreements with the Vatican, we’re going to have disagreements from time to time. I think it’s a good thing actually that the Pope is advocating for the things he cares about.
“But sometimes we’re going to have disagreement on matters of public policy. The Pope has been critical of our immigration policy, but ultimately the immigration policy of the United States is set by Donald Trump.
“But when they’re in conflict, they’re in conflict. I don’t worry about it too much. I think it’s a natural thing, I’m sure it will happen in the future and it’s not that big of a deal that it’s happened in the past.”
Trump – who got a McDonald ‘s delivery yesterday (April 13) to promote his “no tax on tips” law – had laid into the Vatican leader after the pontiff called on global leaders to stop fighting and resume talks. He took it as a personal insult and blasted: “I don’t want a Pope who thinks it’s OK for Iran to have a Nuclear Weapon.
“And I don’t want a Pope who criticises the President of the United States because I’m doing exactly what I was elected, IN A LANDSLIDE, to do. Leo should get his act together as Pope, use Common Sense, stop catering to the Radical Left, and focus on being a Great Pope, not a Politician.”
Trump also claimed Leo was “weak on Crime, and terrible for Foreign Policy”, and later told reporters: “I’m not a fan of Pope Leo.” The Pope accused Trump of “misunderstanding the gospel”.
He said he did not fear the Trump administration. The pontiff added that he would “continue on what I believe is the mission of the church in the world today.”
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