Vance warns the pope should 'be careful' when talking about theology

Trump administrationVance warns the pope should 'be careful' when talking about theologyVance, who is Catholic, said the pope was wrong in saying Jesus wasn’t on the side of those who wield the sword, pointing to the U.S.’ helping defeat the Nazis during World War II.Listen to this article with a free account00:0000:00 Turning Point USA spokesperson Andrew Kolvet speaks with Vice President JD Vance at a Turning Point USA event in Athens, Ga., on Tuesday.Chip Somodevilla / Getty ImagesShareAdd NBC News to GoogleApril 14, 2026, 11:01 PM EDTBy Raquel Coronell UribeVice President JD Vance said Tuesday that Pope Leo XIV should “be careful” when he talks about theology, rebuking the pontiff over his criticisms of U.S. foreign policy.Subscribe to read this story ad-free Get unlimited access to ad-free articles and exclusive content.Vance argued that the pope, who has said Jesus “is never on the side of those who once wielded the sword and today drop bombs,” was failing to take into account conflicts such as World War II.“Was God on the side of the Americans who liberated France from the Nazis? Was God on the side of the Americans who liberated Holocaust camps and liberated those, those innocent people, you know, those who had survived the Holocaust? I certainly think the answer is yes,” he said at a Turning Point USA event in Athens, Georgia.Vance, who is Catholic and met with the pope in May, said that he likes it when the pope weighs in on issues such as abortion, immigration or “matters of war and peace” but that he sometimes disagrees with him.Attendees at the Turning Point USA event Tuesday. Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images“Now we can, of course, have disagreements about whether this or that conflict is just, but I think in the way that it’s important for the vice president of the United States to be careful when I talk about matters of public policy, I think it’s very, very important for the pope to be careful when he talks about matters of theology,” Vance...