Vice President JD Vance, a Catholic, acknowledges the pope's criticism of US immigration crackdown
Vice President JD Vance acknowledged Pope Francis’ criticism of the Trump administration’s crackdown on immigration, without responding to any of its specifics or to the pontiff’s apparent criticism of Vance’s own deployment of Catholic tradition to justify such policies.
Vance, a Catholic convert, spoke Friday at the National Catholic Prayer Breakfast in Washington. He sought to downplay the controversy and said he and his family pray daily for Pope Francis during the 88-year-old pontiff’s hospitalization for pneumonia and other health troubles.
Vance told the gathering he wasn’t there to litigate “about who’s right and who’s wrong,” though he said he would continue to defend his views. But he spoke in conciliatory terms, crediting Francis as one who “cares about the flock of Christians under his under his leadership and the spiritual direction of the faith.”
Vance, who led the gathering in a prayer for Francis’ health, asserted that religious leaders shouldn’t be treated as social-media influencers subject to constant debate.
Francis issued a major rebuke earlier in February to the Trump administration’s plans for mass deportations, warning that it would deprive migrants of their inherent dignity. Francis also apparently responded to Vance directly.
Vance, on social media, had defended the administration’s America-first policies by citing centuries-old teachings on “ordo amoris,” or the order of love, saying people must prioritize their families and those closest to them. Francis, in a subsequent statement, said a true understanding of that teaching is reflected in a “love that builds a fraternity open to all, without exception.” The pope cited the biblical parable of the Good Samaritan, who took care of a wounded stranger.
On Friday, Vance didn’t address that issue specifically but called himself a “baby Catholic” and acknowledged there are “things about the faith that I don’t know.” Vance became a Catholic in 2019.
He added: “I try to be humble as best I can when I talk about the faith and publicly, because of course, I’m not always going to get it right.”
He also acknowledged taking criticism from bishops, without mentioning what precipitated recent criticism – his claim that the bishops were taking millions of dollars in government aid to “resettle illegal immigrants.”
In fact, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has received millions to resettle legally approved refugees, though it is now battling the Trump administration in court over the cut-off of such funding. One leading cardinal called Vance’s claim “scurrilous.”
Vance also touted the Trump administration’s “protecting the religious liberty of all people, but in particular Catholics.” The administration created a task force focused on eradicating bias against Christians, the predominant religious group in the country.
Vance claimed Friday that the Biden administration “liked to throw people in jail for silently praying."
Trump has said he pardoned an elderly woman put in jail “because she was praying.” In fact, she and co-defendants were sentenced for blockading an abortion clinic in violation of the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act.
Vance acknowledged “you’re certainly not always going to agree with everything that we do,” but he contended it has gone in the “exact opposite direction” of the Biden administration’s strong emphasis on the right to abortion.
Under Trump, the GOP removed a call for a constitutional amendment banning abortion from its 2024 platform, and Trump signed an executive order aiming to reduce costs for in vitro fertilization, which some abortion foes oppose because it can result in embryos being discarded.
Vance, a Marine veteran who served in Iraq, said that over the past four decades, “it has often been historical Christian communities who bear the brunt of failed American foreign policy.” That was an apparent allusion to such things as the U.S. invasion of Iraq’s impact on its Christian minority.
“Perhaps the most important way in which Donald Trump has been a defender of Christian rights all over the world is he has a foreign policy that is oriented towards peace,” Vance said, mentioning Russia, Ukraine and the Middle East by name.
The Catholic minority in Ukraine has been a staunch supporter of its country’s defense against the Russian invasion. Trump was scheduled to meet Friday with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as he hopes to persuade Trump to provide some form of U.S. backing for Ukraine’s security against any future Russian aggression.
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