Vice President JD Vance was slapped with another withering correction by the leaders of his chosen faith after criticizing the pope.
The 41-year-old vice president warned Pope Leo XIV to "be careful" with his theological statements against President Donald Trump and his administration's war in Iran, and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops issued a scathing, 164-word statement denouncing Vance's criticism of the U.S.-born pontiff.
“For over a thousand years, the Catholic Church has taught just war theory and it is that long tradition the Holy Father carefully references in his comments on war," wrote Bishop James Massa, chairman of the USCCBC Committee on Doctrine. "A constant tenet of that thousand-year tradition is a nation can only legitimately take up the sword ‘in self-defense, once all peace efforts have failed’ (Catechism of the Catholic Church, no. 2308)."
"That is, to be a just war it must be a defense against another who actively wages war, which is what the Holy Father actually said: ‘He does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war,'" the bishop added.
Vance, a former atheist who converted to Catholicism in 2019, claimed that he liked to debate the pope, who had served the church for nearly 50 years before he was elected pontiff last year, on matters of theology after Leo issued increasingly critical statements about the U.S. military action in Iran.
“How can you say that God was never on the side of those who wield the sword?” Vance said in response. “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?”
But the council of bishops scoffed at Vance's position on the matter.
“When Pope Leo XIV speaks as supreme pastor of the universal Church, he is not merely offering opinions on theology, he is preaching the Gospel and exercising his ministry as the Vicar of Christ," Massa wrote. "The consistent teaching of the Church is insistent that all people of good will must pray and work toward lasting peace while avoiding the evils and injustices that accompany all wars.”
The vice president has been widely and pointedly criticized for his response to the pope's statements, including a lengthy fact check by Father James Martin, a Jesuit priest and bestselling author.
"Suffice to say, the Vice President doesn't seem to understand the tenets of just war," Martin wrote. "Nor does he seem to understand the fundamental position of the church, which is for peace. 'War is always a defeat for humanity,' as St. John Paul II said. If that authority isn't enough, then turn to Jesus who said, 'Blessed are the peacemakers,' not 'Blessed are the warmongers.' And after the Resurrection, the Risen Christ says to the frightened disciples not 'Vengeance is mine' but 'Peace be with you.'"
