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JD Vance. Lover of eyeliner. Hater of childless cat ladies. And sadly, our vice president.
Drew Angerer / Getty Images
He’s also a Catholic (he converted in 2019) — which is why I’m SCREAMING over the Catholic pope seemingly calling him out.
Drew Hallowell / Getty Images
For context: Last month, JD accused the US Conference of Catholic Bishops of resettling “illegal immigrants” so they would receive federal funding. Cardinal Timothy Dolan denied this, calling JD’s accusation “scurrilous” and “nasty.” The cardinal continued, “You think we make money caring for the immigrants? We’re losing it hand over fist.”
“Resettling” immigrants is a term used here to mean helping them obtain basic necessities like housing and food.
In a Fox News interview, JD insisted that the Trump administration’s deportations of undocumented immigrants is justified by the Catholic concept of “ordo amoris.” He said, “You love your family, and then you love your neighbor, and then you love your community, and then you love your fellow citizens in your own country, and then, after that, you can focus and prioritize the rest of the world… The profound difference that Donald Trump brings to the leadership of this country is the simple concept: America first.”
He also doubled down on the whole ordo amoris thing in this tweet.
Fox News / Via x.com
Well! Pope Francis had something to say about that!
In case you didn’t know, Pope Francis is huge on caring for immigrants. The first pope from South America, he’s spoken about this many, many times over the years. So it should be no surprise that he’s entirely at odds with JD.
Lisa Maree Williams / Getty Images
In a new letter to US bishops, Pope Francis rebuked the Trump administration for planning mass deportations. He cited the Bible and Jesus’s own life as reasons why we should welcome people searching for shelter and safety.
And he specifically corrected the definition of ordo amoris. “Christian love is not a concentric expansion of interests that little by little extend to other persons and groups,” he wrote. “The true ordo amoris that must be promoted is that which we discover by meditating constantly on the parable of the ‘Good Samaritan,’ that is, by meditating on the love that builds a fraternity open to all, without exception.”
WITHOUT EXCEPTION. Did you hear that, JD?!
Vatican Pool / Getty Images
Here’s what people on the internet are saying:
“I may be a bad Catholic but at least the Pope has never written a letter where he reserves space to call me stupid,” one person wrote.
“A real Catholic would start shaking and throwing up in shame after being scolded on a worldwide stage by the fucking pope but JD Vance will probably just tweet ‘uh, so THAT happened,'” another person said.
“I think the Pope should start excommunicating American politicians.”
“Imagine getting Catholic theology so wrong, so publicly, that the Pope intervenes…”
“imagine converting to catholicism and then immediately getting called out by the pope for being a horrible person.”
“Crazy to post a tweet so stupid that the pope has to write a letter correcting you.”
“I’ve been trying all morning to think of a metaphor funnier than ‘adult convert gets yelled at by the Pope’ but I think JD Vance honestly broke the scale.”
“LRT lmao I’m not even that Catholic but the thought of the pope calling me out personally would be HUMILIATING.”
And finally, “You guys became so evil that the actual pope himself wrote a warning letter about it.”
What do you think about all this? LMK in the comments below!
