WASHINGTON — Prior to his election on May 8 as the head of the Catholic Church, Pope Leo XIV made critical posts on social media regarding the immigration policies of President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance. As then-Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost of Chicago, he expressed disapproval of Vance’s views on religion, shared an article questioning Vance’s stance on the deportation of migrants, and retweeted criticism of Trump and President of El Salvador Nayib Bukele’s handling of the deportation of Salvadoran national Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who resided in Maryland.
One post from Feb. 3, 2025, highlighted an article from the National Catholic Reporter titled “JD Vance is wrong: Jesus doesn’t ask us to rank our love for others.” Vance, who converted to Catholicism in 2019, had invoked medieval Catholic teachings to justify the United States’ immigration policies under Trump. Leo’s predecessor, Pope Francis, challenged the theological argument used by Vance to support the crackdown in a letter to the U.S. Catholic bishops in February.
Although the new pontiff was mostly inactive on his X account in 2024, he had been posting regularly since 2011 in both English and Spanish. A screenshot of one of Cardinal Robert Prevost’s posts, who was later elected as Pope on May 8, 2025, showed him sharing an opinion piece from the National Catholic Reporter about Vice President J.D. Vance on Feb. 3, 2025.
Prevost had previously criticized Trump and Vance for their immigration policies, as well as their cuts to foreign aid and domestic welfare programs. Vance was among the last officials to meet with Francis before his passing. The White House did not immediately respond to requests for comments on Leo’s past criticisms of the president and vice president. Trump had earlier expressed joy over the historic election of an American as pontiff.
In response to the new pope and the ex-cardinal’s earlier tweets about him, Vance’s office referred to his post on X congratulating Leo XIV on his election and expressing well wishes for his leadership of the Church.
