Vance on Pope’s immigration policy criticism: Catholics ‘too preoccupied’ with clergy's politics

Vice President Vance on Friday said that American Catholics focus too much on criticism coming from clergy members, in response to Pope Francis’ public disapproval of the Trump administration’s immigration policies.

“As you’ve probably seen publicly, the holy father, Pope Francis, has criticized some of our policies when it comes to immigration,” Vance said, in remarks at the National Catholic Prayer Breakfast. “I think that sometimes a lot of conservative Catholics are too preoccupied with their political criticisms of a particular clergy member or the leader of the Catholic church.”

“I think that, what I would say, is that it’s not in the best interest of any of us, again, to treat the religious leaders of our faith as just another social media influencer,” he added,

“That goes in both ways, if I can be so bold, I think it’s incumbent upon our religious leaders to recognize that in the era of social media, people will hang on every single word that they utter, even if that wasn’t their intention.”

The pope, who is recovering from pneumonia, has taken issue with Republicans’ handling of immigration, voicing the church's view that migrants should be welcomed and treated with dignity. He wrote a letter in February criticizing Trump’s mass deportation plans, arguing they leave people vulnerable and defenseless, calling instead for laws to help the most marginalized.

The pope’s letter at the time appeared to push back on Vance’s recent comments that Americans should care about their family, community and country before others, with the Vatican arguing that “Christian love” extends to all humans.

Vance said he was surprised by the pope’s reaction, but also that he has been praying for his health. He is the second Catholic vice president, following former Vice President Joe Biden, who later became the second Catholic president.

“Every day since I heard of Pope Francis’ illness, I say a prayer for the holy father because well yes, I was certainly surprised when he criticized our immigration policy in that way that he has. I also know that the pope, I believe that the pope, is fundamentally a person who cares about the flock of Christians under his leadership,” the vice president said.

He also noted that U.S. Catholic Bishops have also disagreed with some of the administration’s policies.

“While yes, some of our media and some of our social media influencers, and even some of us fellow Catholics, I think try to bring the holy father into every culture war battle in American politics,” Vance said.

He closed his speech at the breakfast by reading excerpts from a March 2020 homily the pope gave in the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.

Others in the Trump administration have pushed back on the pope’s criticism of the border policies, including Trump’s border czar, Tom Homan, who is also Catholic. He said that the pope should focus on fixing the Catholic Church and leave border enforcement policies to the administration.

Updated: 10:36 a.m.

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