The vice president has stuck up for his boss amid a spat between Donald Trump and Pope Leo XIV over a controversial image shared by the President.
In a simple but clear message to the head of the catholic church, JD Vance described the now-deleted AI-generated image shared by Trump which depicted himself as Jesus as a “joke”.
The picture shows the president dressed in biblical-looking robes placing his hand on a sick man’s head, making it glow, aiming to portray himself as a saviour healing a “sick” America.
Trump’s criticism of Pope Leo XIV
Shortly after, Trump took to Truth Social to criticize the Pope, calling him “weak” on crime and tearing apart his peaceful stance on the war with Iran.
Unsurprisingly, Pope Leo was outraged by the president effectively comparing himself to Jesus, as were many of Trump’s previously very loyal supporters.
Vance, who converted to Catholicism in 2019, told Fox News’ Special Report With Bret Baier on Monday that the president’s post was “a joke.”
Addressing Trump’s decision to remove the post, he said: “And, of course, he took it down because he recognized that a lot of people weren’t understanding his humor in that case.
“I think the president of the United States likes to mix it up on social media,” he added.
The vice president backed up his boss by saying he thought it was “good” that Trump is “not filtered”.
Critics lashed out at Vance on social media
He also added: “I certainly think that, in some cases, it would be best for the Vatican to stick to matters of morality.
“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.”
Vance also defended Trump’s claim that the pontiff was “catering to the Radical Left,” saying that Trump has the “prerogative” to set the country’s immigration policy.
“He has to look out for the interests of the United States of America,” he added.
People flocked to social media to criticize Vance’s comments and denial that war is a moral matter.
Political commentator Jon Favreau wrote on X: “Glad the Vice President clarified that he doesn’t think waging war is a matter of morality.”
Writer Polly Singh cited Vance’s upcoming memoir about his recent religious conversion, writing on X: “Spoken just like a fake Catholic who confused a Methodist church with a Catholic one on the cover of his book.”
The ongoing dispute between the Oval Office and the Vatican comes just a week after the Pope described Trump’s claim that an “entire civilisation will die” in the war with Iran as “unacceptable”.
