Vice President JD Vance said that a now-deleted post shared by President Donald Trump, in which the commander-in-chief appears to be dressed as Jesus, was a “joke.”
Trump shared the widely condemned picture, which shows him clothed in white robes and placing a glowing hand on a sick patient, shortly after blasting Pope Leo XIV on Truth Social.
In a lengthy post, the president claimed that the pope was “WEAK” on crime and tore into the pontiff’s criticism of the U.S.’s war with Iran.
Vance, who converted to Catholicism in 2019, told Fox News’ Special Report With Bret Baier on Monday that the president’s post was “a joke.”
“And, of course, he took it down because he recognized that a lot of people weren’t understanding his humor in that case,” he said. “I think the president of the United States likes to mix it up on social media.”
Vance added that it was “good” that Trump is “not filtered.”
“I certainly think that, in some cases, it would be best for the Vatican to stick to matters of morality,” Vance said. “To stick to matters of, you know, what’s going on in the Catholic Church and let the president of the United States stick to dictating American public policy.”
When asked about Trump’s claim that the Pope was “catering to the Radical Left,” Vance said that Trump has the “prerogative” to set the country’s immigration policy.
“He has to look out for the interests of the United States of America,” he added.
Vance was shredded on social media for his comments, with journalist John Harwood claiming on X that the Trump administration is “not interested in matters of morality.”
“Glad the Vice President clarified that he doesn’t think waging war is a matter of morality,” political commentator Jon Favreau wrote on X.
Writer Polly Sigh took aim at Vance’s upcoming memoir about his conversion to Catholicism.
“Spoken just like a fake Catholic who confused a Methodist church with a Catholic one on the cover of his book,” she wrote on X.
Vance was one of the last world leaders to meet with Pope Francis before his death.
The vice president had previously cited the concept of ordo amoris to justify his administration’s deportation policies, while Pope Francis asserted his own interpretation of the theological idea in an open letter.
Trump’s scathing Truth Social post came a week after the current pope described the president’s claim that an “entire civilisation will die” in the war with Iran as “unacceptable.”
The Pope had also suggested, without naming Trump or the war with Iran directly, that a “delusion of omnipotence” was fueling conflicts around the world.
On Truth Social, the president claimed that he liked the Pope’s brother “much better” and suggested that, without his own election in 2024, the Pope “wouldn’t be in the Vatican.”
Shortly after uploading that post, the president shared the image of himself in a white robe, bathed in light and placing his hand on a sick man’s face.
A nurse, a soldier, a man in uniform and a praying woman are all seated around the patient’s bedside in the image, while a huge U.S. flag, a pair of bald eagles, and a trio of military planes fly overhead.
Responding to the Truth Social tirade, the Pope said that he has “no fear of the Trump administration” and that he did not want to debate Trump on the issue.
Trump has since claimed that the image depicts him as a doctor “making people better,” and has since deleted the picture.
