Ayvaz Çolakoğlu
April 16, 2026:
Update: April 16, 2026
ANKARA – Vice-President JD Vance has urged Pope Leon XIV to “be very careful” when talking about theological issues, while President Donald Trump continues his direct attacks against the pontiff.
During a speech at a Turning Point USA event, JD Vance, who converted to Catholicism in 2019, criticized the pope for stating that “God is never on the side of those who wield the sword,” a position Vance considers incompatible with the doctrine of “just war.”
“It is very, very important for the Pope to be careful when speaking on theological matters,” he said, correcting the head of the Catholic Church on his own doctrine.
These remarks come after Pope Leon XIV strongly criticized American threats against Iran, calling the idea of destroying a “civilization” “truly unacceptable” and denouncing attacks on civilian infrastructure. The pontiff also canceled a planned visit to Washington.
This stance from the American administration prompted a rare and firm reaction from Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who expressed solidarity with Pope Leon XIV, stating that she would not feel comfortable in a society where religious leaders should obey the dictates of political leaders.
She called Trump’s remarks about the pope “unacceptable.”
Ségolène Royal, former French presidential candidate, summarized in a post on American social media X the reasons she believes explain this hostility.
“Donald Trump insults the pope because he opposes the strength of peace to the endless madness of war and hatred, because he canceled his visit to the United States, and especially because he refuses to let Trump pass his declaration that he wages war in the name of God,” she wrote.
For many observers and social media users, this sequence reveals an “arrogance” from both American leaders who position themselves as theology teachers to the moral authority of over a billion Catholics worldwide.
Furthermore, this confrontation highlights a major cultural and theological gap between American evangelical Protestantism and Catholicism.
The former, influential in Trump’s circle, rejects any central authority. Every believer, especially a Christian political leader, can freely interpret the Bible and consider themselves as a direct instrument of divine will.
In this tradition, war is sometimes perceived as a providential mission or a national crusade blessed by God.
Conversely, in Catholicism, theology is based on Scripture, Tradition, and the official teaching of the Church. The doctrine of “just war” does exist but is strictly regulated. By emphasizing that God rejects war and that His name cannot justify violence.
The works of French specialists Sébastien Fath and Sébastien Boussois, as well as the research of American Matthew Taylor, document the “theological gap” between the institutional structure of Catholicism and the absence of central authority in American evangelical Protestantism.
This statement comes after rare sharp attacks from Donald Trump. The American president called the pontiff “weak against crime” and “catastrophic in foreign policy,” even going as far as portraying him as a Christ-like figure before withdrawing the image amid general outrage.
In response, Pope Leon XIV stated that he is not afraid of the Trump administration, claiming an evangelical line of peace and refusing the instrumentalization of faith by political power.
While the Vatican has not officially responded to JD Vance’s recent remarks, the gap between the pontifical message and Trump’s warlike rhetoric seems to be widening.
This showdown is fracturing even the president’s base, where some loyalists are denouncing the remarks as “sacrilegious”: “You are not God, this goes too far,” they reacted.
(*) The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial line of Anadolu.
