Dispute over Trump’s US policy
Vance: Pope should focus on moral issues
Updated April 14, 2026 – 8:24 a.mReading time: 2 minutes
In view of the dispute between the Pope and the US President, Trump’s deputy JD Vance is calm. The Catholic believes that the head of the church should stay out of US politics.
US Vice President JD Vance has recommended that Pope Leo XIV stay out of American politics. “In some cases it would be best for the Vatican to focus on moral issues,” Vance said in an interview with Fox News on Monday (local time).
The background is a sharp exchange of blows between US President Donald Trump and the head of the Catholic Church. At the weekend, Leo once again called for an end to the current wars and appealed to those in power to bring peace. Trump then accused him of pursuing a “terrible” foreign policy.
It’s good that the Pope stands up for the things that are important to him, but he should leave US politics to the President of the United States, said Vance in the Fox News interview.
The Republican, who converted to Catholicism a few years ago, explained that the fact that Trump and the pontiff are currently having conflicts with each other is not something that he is particularly worried about.
Regarding an image that Trump published online and later deleted again, which stylized the US President as a savior, he said that, in his view, Trump had posted it “as a joke” and then quickly realized that “a lot of people don’t understand his humor in this case.” Critics accused the president of blasphemy.
The relationship between the Pope, head of 1.4 billion Catholics worldwide, and the US President has long been considered tense. Immediately after his election in May 2025, the first US pope was described as the “anti-Trump”.
