4/17/26
JD Vance defends Trump amid spat with Pope Leo.
JD Vance, the Catholic Vice President of the United States, effectively told Pope Leo to “stay in his lane” after the Pope criticized the White House over the Iran War. There have always been rifts between past popes and presidents; the rift between Donald Trump and Pope Leo has escalated to a global level because Donald Trump reportedly said, “Pope Leo owes his position to me.” Now, JD Vance joined the dispute to defend Trump’s image. This response came after Pope Leo declared that he did not fear the Trump administration and will continue to speak his opinions about the war. JD Vance reports, “We can respect the Pope. We certainly have a good relationship with the Vatican, but we’re also going to disagree on substantive questions from time to time. I think that’s a totally reasonable thing. It isn’t particularly newsworthy” (The Guardian).
In another article, they talk about another religion-related topic: the Jesus image. Trump posted an image on social media appearing to show himself as a Christ-like figure, despite his dispute with the Pope. Donald Trump took down the image due to backlash from Christian conservatives. By the time he took down the image, the entire world had seen it and posted it everywhere, proving that the internet never forgets. Schmalz from CBS News said, “President Trump’s explanation of the meme and the AI-generated picture is really not creditable. If he is going to present himself as a doctor, he doesn’t have a stethoscope, he doesn’t have doctor’s clothing or anything like that. He is obviously presenting himself as a Christ-like figure. That, I think for many Christians, Catholics in particular, is going a step too far.” People who support MAGA are shocked by his behavior and believe that he’s going too far by acting like a Christ-like figure.
Donald Trump said Pope Leo is “weak on crime,” and he told CBS News the Pope is “wrong on the issues.” Pope Leo will always be tied in with politics because he is the Pope it is his job to speak up about what he thinks is right and what he believes is wrong on behalf of the church. “But in this sense, tying general criticism about the world situation in terms of war and peace to a specific policy, or an aspect of U.S. foreign policy, that is kind of new. So, I think Pope Leo, he’s not stepping out of his role as pontiff and being a politician, but he is blurring the lines a bit from his perspective because these are moral issues that he has to identify clearly for the Catholic Faithful” (CBS News). There are many conflicting feelings about whether or not Pope Leo XIV is overstepping his bounds or if he is in the right.
Trump has called Pope Leo XIV “weak” and captive to the “radical left.” The Catholic media is going to put distance between themselves and the present administration. “An American president criticizing a Pope in the way Donald Trump has is really unprecedented. For presidents, they’ve always been careful to generally refer to the Pope as a moral leader, the conscience of the world and they have been, in time past, very concerned about cultivating Catholics as a political constituency. So, the fact that you have a president of the United States personally criticising the Pope is really something new,” (Schmalz, CBS News). Some claim that Trump has taken the criticism too far, crossed a line, and has no respect for a religious leader.
