Vance says media coverage of Pope Leo XIV's election is 'discolored' by politics
Pope urges press not to sew division, seek 'consensus at all costs'
Vice President J.D. Vance has called the Catholic Church "so much bigger than politics," as he expressed disappointment about the preoccupation with American politics that he believes has defined the election of Pope Leo XIV.
Vance reacted to the election of Pope Leo XIV as the 267th Supreme Pontiff of the Roman Catholic Church in an interview with radio host Hugh Hewitt Friday. A convert to Roman Catholicism, Vance noted the historic nature of the papacy with Leo XIV becoming the first American pope in world history. He described the election as "a big moment, of course, for American Catholics and I think the American people writ large."
"So many people my entire lifetime have said you're never going to have an American pope. Obviously, now we do, so I think that's a great thing," Vance added.
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After extending well wishes to the new pontiff, Vance lamented, "These things always get discolored a little bit by American politics or by politics writ large."
Vance identified the question of where the new pope "Is he a conservative or is he a liberal" as one of the common questions that have popped up since Leo XIV's election while quoting observations that "he's attacked President Trump and J.D. Vance on certain things and hasn't attacked Democrats on other things."
"It's very hard to fit a 2,000-year-old institution into the politics of 2025 America," Vance said.
"I try not to do that," Vance insisted. "I am a Catholic convert, and so I come at this maybe with a slightly different perspective. But I try not to play the politicization of the pope game. I'm sure he's going to say a lot of things that I love. I'm sure he'll say some things that I disagree with, but I'll continue to pray for him and the Church despite it all and through it all, and that'll be the way that I handle it."
After Hewitt brought up how members of the American media repeatedly asked American cardinals questions about Trump at a press conference they held following Leo XIV's election, Vance described the media's preoccupation with politics as "disappointing."
"The Church is so much bigger than politics. Obviously, there are 1.3 billion Catholics. There are about, you know, I don't know, probably 100 million or so American Catholics, maybe a little bit smaller than that. But it's a big institution with a lot of members."
"Most of the people are not thinking about whether the pope is a Republican or a Democrat or a conservative or a liberal," Vance maintained. "There are a lot of views the Catholic leadership holds that are, you know, you might consider on the right side of the spectrum. There are a lot of views they're going to hold that might be more traditionally on the left side of the spectrum. And then there are a lot of views that don't map easily onto politics at all."
Vance said that "the Church is about saving souls and about spreading the Gospel" but acknowledged that "it's going to touch public policy from time to time as all human institutions do." The vice president contends it would be "much healthier for the American media, and certainly for Catholics, to not take such a, you know, politics in the age of social media attitude towards the papacy."
"I think it's a lot healthier way to go through life is to do that as opposed to focus obsessively on the politics," Vance concluded. "That's true for liberals and conservatives."
The new pontiff issued similar remarks when he met with members of the press on Monday. Speaking in Italian, the pope urged the international media to foster peace rather than aggression.
He wants the media not to "seek consensus at all costs" and not to "use aggressive words." He also urged the press not to "follow the culture of competition."
"The way we communicate is of fundamental importance," he said, according to a translation from Vatican News. "We must say 'no' to the war of words and images; we must reject the paradigm of war."
Following Leo XIV's election as pope on Thursday, screenshots of X posts shared by the pontiff during his time as a cardinal resurfaced amid efforts to predict whether the new Bishop of Rome had a liberal or conservative worldview. One screenshot showed then-Cardinal Robert Prevost sharing an article published by the progressive publication National Catholic Reporter titled "JD Vance is wrong: Jesus doesn't ask us to rank our love for others."
The article in question followed Vance's remarks endorsing "a Christian concept that you love your family and then you love your neighbor, and then you love your community, and then you love your fellow citizens, and then after that, prioritize the rest of the world." Vance's comments addressed the Trump administration's immigration policies.
Ryan Foley is a reporter for The Christian Post. He can be reached at: [email protected]
