With President Donald Trump criticizing Pope Leo XIV for comments on the ongoing Iran war, Catholic Vice President JD Vance has taken a more nuanced tone — welcoming some input from clergy but discouraging them from wading into certain matters.
In an interview on Fox News' "Special Report with Bret Baier" on April 13, Vance said it's good the pope discusses what he cares about, but added: "In some cases it would be best for the Vatican to stick to matters of morality, to stick to matters of what's going on in the Catholic Church, and let the president of the United States stick to dictating American public policy."
At a Turning Point, USA event the next day at the University of Georgia, Vance said he respects and admires Leo, likes "that the pope is an advocate for peace," acknowledging it as "certainly one of his roles." He disputed Leo's understanding of just war doctrine and said the pope should be "careful when he talks about matters of theology."
The comments come as Leo calls for peace and Church officials question the justification of the war on the basis of just war doctrine. Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin and Archdiocese of Washington, D.C., Cardinal Robert McElroy have said they do not believe the war fits just war criteria.
Three Catholic theologians who spoke with EWTN News disputed the notion that public policy matters — especially as they relate to war — can be separated from "matters of morality" and affirmed the Church's role in these topics.
EWTN News reached out to Vance's office to ask whether he believes justifications for entering a war or conduct in war are "matters of morality" but did not receive a response by the time of publication.
'Matters of morality'
The Church has long held concerns about war to be a moral subject, with St. Augustine writing extensively about it in the early fifth century and popes and theologians both commenting on just war doctrine generally and speaking out about specific wars for centuries.
Joseph Capizzi, dean and ordinary professor of moral theology and ethics at The Catholic University of America, told EWTN News that Vance is "just wrong" to draw a line between matters of morality and matters of public policy.
"For people to be moral, they need a good, healthy, stable political community," he said. "All of us, men, women, children, priest and religious, lay, and so on have a stake in the moral good of the political communities we inhabit."
The Church, Capizzi said, has been around for more than 2,000 years, and "her experience, her wisdom, her tradition are critical resources for helping us live in good communities."
"The plea that bishops and popes and priests should 'stick to morals and avoid politics' is old, and rightly rejected by all Catholics, lay or otherwise," he said. "It's what many relied on in the past to try to quiet Catholics about immigration, abortion, poverty, and many other issues. The overlap of politics and morality is expansive."
Taylor Patrick O'Neill, theology professor at Thomas Aquinas College, told EWTN News he thinks Vance's comment "was very uncareful."
"There is no amoral arena," he said. "There's no aspect to our … life where moral aspects don't come into play."
O'Neill said the pope's role to speak on matters of faith and morals "includes politics," adding: "It would be a mistake to think that public policy does not touch upon the moral."
The Holy Father's statements, he said, are part of his role "to guide and to teach," and if Leo were to avoid the Iran war, "it would be quite odd … and not in step with the tradition of the papacy" because it touches on "the faith and the morals of believing people worldwide."
O'Neill said the pope's role is not to "dictate public policy" like "directing the [government] in regard to what sort of military formations to use." But he said the pope's role is to explain that "certain policies are intrinsically contrary to human flourishing and dignity" and to comment on "moral truths that should affect policy."
Ron Bolster, dean of the School of Theology and Philosophy at Franciscan University in Steubenville, Ohio, told EWTN News he wishes Vance "hadn't taken his disagreement with the Holy Father publicly" and said it is not helpful to set up a dichotomy between the moral realm and the public policy realm.
"One would certainly hope that you would bring the Gospel to bear on public policy," he said. "I would like to think [Vance] knows better than that, but his position is not very uncommon."
A role of the pope, Bolster said, is to "try to bring public servants to a better appreciation for how the Gospel would be advanced in their policies" and to help and guide them "when they're out of line in that regard."
"The Gospel and morality [should] drive all policy and any action that we would take," he said.
Just war doctrine
At Tuesday's Turning Point event, Vance challenged Leo's understanding of just war doctrine in a response to the pope's post on X that read: "God does not bless any conflict. Anyone who is a disciple of Christ, the Prince of Peace, is never on the side of those who once wielded the sword and today drop bombs."
Vance asked: "Was God on the side of the Americans who liberated France from the Nazis?" and "Was God on the side of the Americans who liberated Holocaust camps and liberated those innocent people…?" The vice president said: "I certainly think the answer is yes."
Capizzi said Vance "misses the point" because Leo is "aware of the Church's understanding of the just war." When Catholics must wage war, they should "pray in the hope that they are doing God's will … with humility and even a fear of God that they have rightly judged [the] situation," he said.
"They try to avoid praying with hubris or arrogance about their judgment, because they know God's judgment alone matters," he said.
Capizzi said Leo's comments are "about the rise in recourse to violence to attempt to solve problems" and "those who 'wage wars' are those turning to violence rather than looking for other solutions."
O'Neill said Catholics should not interpret Leo's comments as "throwing out" just war doctrine but understand it the same way they understand Christ saying that "all who take the sword will perish by the sword" in Matthew 26:52.
"Even when a Christian has to take up the sword, he doesn't live by the sword," O'Neill said.
Even when a Christian has to take up the sword, he doesn't live by the sword.
Taylor Patrick ONeillTheology professor at Thomas Aquinas College
If a Christian must engage in war, O'Neill said, "he does so as if it's a tragedy." He said glee or indifference toward war is "not living in accordance with the spirit of Christ" and noted concerns with the administration splicing together videos of the war with action movies, treating it like "a joke" or like "it's cool."
"The spirit should always be turned away from warfare," he said.
Bolster said he read the pope's comment in the context of Trump's threat to destroy Iranian civilization: "The threats were made against the culture, the civilians, and the innocents." He said the pope "has a responsibility to all of the souls entrusted to him and to protect the innocents and call out an escalation that would go beyond the military targets."
Yet, he also said Vance is in a tough position because when someone "questions whether [the soldiers are] involved in something that's morally legitimate, you jeopardize their ability to do their job and you jeopardize their safety."
The U.S. and Iran entered a temporary two-week ceasefire on April 8. So far, a long-term peace deal has not been reached.
