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Vance says he’s ‘grateful’ for Pope Leo’s statement on not wanting public debate with Trump

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by Sophie Brams - 04/18/26 9:10 PM ET

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by Sophie Brams - 04/18/26 9:10 PM ET

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Vice President JD Vance thanked Pope Leo XIV on Saturday after the pontiff sought to downplay a days-long clash with President Trump and said he didn’t want to engage in a public debate with the president.

The pope said earlier on Saturday that some of the coverage of his comments throughout his papal visit to Africa portrayed a “certain narrative that has not been accurate in all of its aspects.”

He referred to a speech he delivered in Cameroon in which he criticized those who “manipulate religion” for political and military gain, saying it was “prepared two weeks ago, well before the president ever commented on myself and the message of peace that I am promoting.”

“And yet, as it happens, it was looked at as if I was trying to debate, again, the president, which is not my interest at all,” Leo said aboard a plane to Angola. “So we go on the journey. We continue proclaiming the gospel message.”

Vance, a Catholic, took to social media on Saturday night to write that he was “grateful” to the pope for his comment. The pair met when Vance visited the Vatican in May 2025, shortly after Leo was named the first U.S.-born pope.

“While the media narrative constantly gins up conflict–and yes, real disagreements have happened and will happen–the reality is often much more complicated,” Vance wrote on the social platform X.

The vice president added that because the pope “preaches the gospel, as he should,” that would “inevitably mean he offers his opinions on moral issues of the day.”

“The President–and the entire administration–work to apply those moral principles in a messy world,” Vance wrote. “He will be in our prayers, and I hope that we’ll be in his.”

A rift between the Trump administration and the Vatican emerged over the past week, as the president has repeatedly lashed out at the pontiff over his opposition to the conflict with Iran several times, and the pope has responded with both veiled and unusually pointed remarks.

The pope labeled Trump’s threat to wipe out Iran’s “whole civilization” if Tehran did not come to the negotiating table as “truly unacceptable” last week, prompting the president to write on Truth Social that the pontiff was “WEAK on crime, and terrible for Foreign Policy.”

A back-and-forth ensued over the next several days, with senior Trump administration officials jumping in to defend the president’s rhetoric and offer their own criticisms.

White House Border Czar Tom Homan told Leo to “leave politics alone,” and Vance warned him to “be careful” when speaking about theology.

“I think one of the issues here is that if you’re going to opine on matters of theology, you’ve got to be careful,” the vice president said during a Turning Point USA Event in Athens, Ga.

“You’ve got to make sure it’s anchored in the truth, and that’s one of the things that I try to do, and it’s certainly something I would expect from the clergy, whether they’re Catholic or Protestant.”

Trump seemed to adopt a softer tone toward the head of the Catholic Church by the end of the week, telling reporters he wasn’t fighting with the pope and had a “right to disagree” with him.

He has insisted he will not apologize for his comments, even amid concern about how the spat could impact his approval rating among Catholic voters.

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