Vice President JD Vance was heckled at a Turning Point USA event in Athens, Ga. while discussing Pope Leo XIV and his recent comments regarding the Trump administration.
While speaking at the event on Tuesday, April 14, Vance, 41, who converted to Catholicism as an adult, insisted that the first American pope should “be careful when he talks about matters of theology.”
The vice president made the remarks while appearing to reference an April 10 post on the pope’s X account, which read, “God does not bless any conflict. Anyone who is a disciple of Christ, the Prince of Peace, is never on the side of those who once wielded the sword and today drop bombs.”
Vice President JD Vance was heckled by an audience member who shouted, “Jesus doesn’t support genocide.”
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“Military action will not create space for freedom or times of #Peace, which comes only from the patient promotion of coexistence and dialogue among peoples,” the post added amid the ongoing Iran war.
Vance then said on Tuesday, “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 and liberated those, those innocent people, from you know … those who had survived the Holocaust? I certainly think the answer is ‘Yes.’ ”
During his comments, Vance was interrupted by someone who appeared to shout, “Jesus Christ does not support genocide!” The vice president then agreed with the statement.
Vance said that he likes it when the pope “comments on questions” regarding issues such as immigration, abortion and “matters of war and peace because I think that at the very least, it invites a conversation.”
The vice president, who met with the pope in May, said at the event, “Now we can, of course, have disagreements about whether this or that conflict is just, but I think that it’s important, 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 was then shouted at by the heckler again, before the politician responded, “Hey, random dude screaming, I told you I’d respond to your point!”
Vance had previously been asked about Donald Trump‘s recent social media post criticizing Pope Leo, 70, during an appearance on Fox News on Monday, April 13.
Vance at first acknowledged that Pope Leo and Trump, 79, would have policy disagreements before sharing what he thought was “best” for the Vatican to do.
“I certainly think that in some cases, it would be best for the Vatican to stick to matters of morality,” Vance told Fox News’ Brett Baier. “To stick to matters of, you know, what’s going on in the Catholic Church and let the president of the United States stick to dictating American public policy. But when they’re in conflict, they’re in conflict.”
“I don’t worry too much about it, Brett,” Vance continued, before suggesting that disagreements between the pope and Trump could happen in the future.
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On Sunday, April 12, Trump posted a lengthy rant on Truth Social about the pontiff, calling him “WEAK on Crime” and “terrible for Foreign Policy.”
“I don’t want a Pope who thinks it’s OK for Iran to have a Nuclear Weapon,” Trump wrote. “I don’t want a Pope who thinks it’s terrible that America attacked Venezuela, a Country that was sending massive amounts of Drugs into the United States and, even worse, emptying their prisons, including murderers, drug dealers, and killers, into our Country.”
On Sunday, Trump also posted an AI-generated image of himself as a messiah on Truth Social that appeared to have been inspired by Jesus Christ healing the sick. He didn’t include a caption on his post.
The pope shared his thoughts on Trump’s previous social media post while speaking to reporters on a flight to Algeria on Monday.
“I have no fear of the Trump administration, or speaking out loudly of the message of the Gospel, which is what I believe I am here to do,” Pope Leo said, per NBC News.
“We are not politicians, we don’t deal with foreign policy with the same perspective he might understand it, but I do believe in the message of the gospel, as a peacemaker,” he added.
