JD Vance on Pope Francis: ‘He was a great Christian pastor’
Caroline MolloyU.S. Vice President JD Vance said this week that he is refusing to politicize Pope Francis’ death, hailing the late pontiff as a “broad” figure and a “great” leader of the Catholic Church.
“A lot of people, especially in the American press, want to make the Holy Father — his entire legacy and even his death — about American politics,” Vance told reporters in Agra, India, while on a four-day visit with his wife, Usha, the first Hindu-American second lady.
“He was obviously a much broader figure than the United States of America. He represents over a billion Catholics worldwide,” Vance said.
The two leaders publicly disagreed on politics earlier in the year. In February, Pope Francis sent a pastoral letter to the U.S. bishops encouraging officials to recognize the dignity of immigrants after Vance, a Catholic convert, publicly advocated applying “ordo amoris,” or “rightly-ordered love,” to the immigration debate.
“[A]s an American leader, but also just as an American citizen, your compassion belongs first to your fellow citizens,” Vance said at the time, while acknowledging that the principle “doesn’t mean you hate people from outside of your own borders.”
In the letter, Francis tacitly rebuked Vance’s remarks, arguing in part that “the act of deporting people who in many cases have left their own land for reasons of extreme poverty, insecurity, exploitation, persecution, or serious deterioration of the environment damages the dignity of many men and women.”
When asked about his response to these “disagreements,” Vance said he was “aware” of them but noted that the pope “also had a lot of agreements with some of the policies of our administration.”
“I’m not going to soil the man’s legacy by talking about politics,” Vance said. “I think he was a great Christian pastor, and that’s how I choose to remember the Holy Father.”
When asked what type of pope he would prefer to be elected next, Vance said he would pray for the cardinals who will cast the votes in the upcoming conclave.
“I won’t pretend to give guidance to the cardinals on who they should select as the next pope,” he said. “We’ve got plenty of issues to focus on in the United States.”
“I’ll just say a prayer for wisdom because I obviously want them to pick the right person, I want them to pick somebody who will be good for the world’s Catholics, but I’ll let them make that decision and obviously they’re entitled to do so,” Vance continued.
JD Vance was among the last officials to meet with the late Pope Francis before he died on Monday.
