Pope Leo XIV is currently settling into his role as the new head of the Catholic Church. Already, Leo, the Chicago native, has created history as the first-ever American-born pontiff.
He has also created headlines as he once stated “JD Vance is wrong.” The pope has long been a vocal critic of Donald Trump as well, even earning a moniker for being “anti-Trump Marxist.”
Leo is once again in the headlines for delivering a cryptic message to Americans when asked to comment about the country’s current leadership. A NewsNation reporter asked him, “Holy Father! Father – any message for the United States?” To which, the pontiff replied, “Many.” He laughed and added, “May God bless you all!”
It seems like his comment had a mysterious tone, taking a subtle jab at Trump, his administration, and the White House frequenters. Since he was elected the new Pope on May 8, many new details surrounding his views towards America’s current leadership resurfaced: one of the most popular being the post her shared on X (formerly Twitter). Leo reposted an online article that criticized JD Vance for his comments on the ranking of love in Christianity.
The Vice President made a comment back in January to justify Trump’s immigration crackdown. “There is a Christian concept that you love your family, and then you love your neighbour, and then you love your community, and then you love your fellow citizens, and then, after that, prioritise the rest of the world,” he said.
However, Leo, formerly Cardinal Robert Prevost, said, “JD Vance is wrong: Jesus doesn’t ask us to rank our love for others.” The Pope emphasized that the scriptures don’t rank love, but rather advise to share equal love with everyone.
Wow—this one’s a mic drop from the new Pope.
A sitting Cardinal (now Pope Leo XIV) publicly rebuking JD Vance for twisting scripture to justify a political agenda? pic.twitter.com/K8wKqtriDX
— Brian Allen (@allenanalysis) May 8, 2025
This is just one instance. Another time, Leo XIV shared a piece written by a Catholic writer that criticized the Trump administration’s views on immigration. The headline of the article read, “Why Donald Trump’s anti-immigrant rhetoric is so problematic.”
His views matched those of Pope Francis. Back in February, the late pontiff published a letter: “I have followed closely the major crisis that is taking place in the United States with the initiation of a programme of mass deportations.”
“The rightly formed conscience cannot fail to make a critical judgement and express its disagreement with any measure that tacitly or explicitly identifies the illegal status of some migrants with criminality.” The new pope also reshared the letter, showing his agreement with Francis.
Despite the feud, JD Vance and Trump both congratulated Leo on getting elected. The U.S. President even went one step ahead and tried to claim credit for his election. On X, the VP wrote, “Congratulations to Leo XIV, the first American pope, on his election! I’m sure millions of American Catholics and other Christians will pray for his successful work leading the Church. May God bless him!”
Donald Trump shared on Truth Social, “It is such an honour to realise that he is the first American pope.”
Scroll down for some images of Pope Leo XIV
