Vice President JD Vance said Monday that Pope Leo XIV should focus on moral issues rather than political disputes as tensions arose between the Trump administration and the Catholic Church after President Donald Trump publicly rebuked the pope over the pontiff’s criticism of the Iran war.
Vance, who converted to Catholicism in 2019, made the remarks during an interview with Fox News’s Bret Baier and backed Trump’s response to Leo, who has condemned the conflict and warned against further escalation, with the vice president saying it is reasonable for Trump to disagree when the Vatican comments on American public policy.
“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 what’s going on in the Catholic Church,” Vance said. “Let the president of the United States stick to dictating American public policy.”
The vice president said he does not worry about conflicts between Trump and the pontiff “too much” and that conflict is a “natural thing.”
The remarks follow sharp criticism from Trump, who in recent days attacked the pope for opposing U.S. military action against Iran and accused him of undermining American policy. The pope has called the war “unacceptable” and said he has “no fear” of the Trump administration.
Vance, who has taken a leading role in diplomatic efforts in Iran, also discussed Trump’s latest move in Iran, in which the president sent naval assets to block Iranian ships from exiting the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran closed to choke oil markets at the start of the war.
“What they have done is engaged in this act of economic terrorism against the entire world,” Vance said. “They basically threatened any ship that’s moving through the Strait of Hormuz. As the president of the United States showed, two can play at that game.”
The vice president added that diplomacy remains ongoing despite the collapse of the latest round of peace talks, which ended without agreement and were followed by the new U.S. pressure in the region.
“The president wants the Iranian people to thrive and succeed,” Vance said. “He has had his negotiation team put on the table a serious proposal. The ball is in Iran’s court.”
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Vance added that the weekend’s peace talks produced some progress but that Iran will decide the next step of progress that leads to a peace deal.
After returning from Islamabad, Vance said Iran’s government was not willing to compromise on its nuclear program, specifically a pledge that it would not pursue nuclear weapons in the future.
