WASHINGTON — Before being elected on May 8 as the leader of the Catholic church, Pope Leo XIV shared social media posts criticizing President Donald Trump’s and Vice President JD Vance’s stances on immigration.
In three posts, then-Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost of Chicago was critical of Vance’s take on religion, shared an article critiquing Vance’s statements on deportation of migrants and retweeted criticism of Trump and President of El Salvador Nayib Bukele’s response to the deportation of El Salvadorian national Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a resident of Maryland.
One post from Feb. 3, 2025, pointed to an article in 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 cited medieval-era Catholic teaching to justify the United States’ new immigration policy under Trump
Leo’s predecessor, Pope Francis, rebutted the theological concept that Vance used to defend the crackdown in an open letter to the U.S. Catholic bishops about the Trump administration in February.
The new pontiff largely avoided posting to his X account in 2024, but he did post hundreds of times overall since 2011 – in English and Spanish
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In 2015, Prevost posted a link to a Washington Post opinion piece titled “Cardinal Dolan: Why Donald Trump’s anti-immigrant rhetoric is so problematic.”
Francis clashed repeatedly with Trump and Vance, particularly over the administration’s immigration policies. He was critical of their plans to deport millions of migrants from the U.S., as well as widespread cuts to foreign aid and domestic welfare programs.
Vance was one of the last officials to see Francis before his death. A day before passing away at age 88, the pope hosted the U.S. vice president at the Vatican.
More: How a Chicago native became pope: See Robert Francis Prevost’s path to making history
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Leo’s past criticism of the president and vice president. Trump in a post on Truth Social had earlier celebrated the first-ever election of an American as pontiff.
Asked for comment on the new pope and ex-cardinal’s previous tweets about the vice president, Vance’s office pointed to his own X post: “Congratulations to Leo XIV, the first American Pope, on his election! I’m sure millions of American Catholics and other Christians will pray for his successful work leading the Church. May God bless him!”
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: As Cardinal, Pope Leo XIV was critical of Trump, Vance on social media
