JD Vance Takes Pope Leo To School... No, Not Really!

Hinzugefügt: 2026-05-05

[00:00:00]The other day you might have heard there was this big conference and uh ticket sales were really really really bad and apparently there there were threats against um Erica Kirk so much so that she her security team didn't feel comfortable bringing her into that situation and so she bowed out. JD Vance's security team figured they could handle it and so he went. and during um an interview where he was heckled about um about Gaza and about war. Uh but during this interview he was talking about Pope Leo and uh and Pope Leo's criticism of of well about going to war really. That's what it that's what it boils down to.

[00:00:44]his criticism about going to war, his criticism about uh taking care of about how uh we aren't taking care of migrants and and and that really sort of falls on the heels of something else that JD Vance said a couple of days ago, which was basically that the pope should shut up and dribble. If anybody remembers that line, the pope should just stay with the business of the of the church.

[00:01:07]Stay within the business of the church.

[00:01:08]Anyway, here here's the clip I want you to see. Number one, the when when the when the Pope says that God is never on the side of those who wield the sword, there is a thousand-year more than a thousand-year tradition of just war theory. Okay? Now, we can of course have disagreements about whether this or that conflict is just, but I think that it's important in the same way that it's important for the vice president of United States to be careful when I talk about matters of public policy. I think it's very very important for the pope to be careful when he talks about matters of theology. And I think that one of these issues here is that there has been is again hey random dude screaming I told you I'd respond to your point. I just want to respond to this question first. But I I think one of the issues here is that if you're going to opine on matters of theology, you've got to be careful. You've got to make sure it's anchored in the truth. And that's one of the things that I try to do and it's certainly something I would expect from the clergy whether they're Catholic or Protestant. Now turn.

[00:02:09]All right. So the pope should be careful that the theology they share is grounded in the truth.

[00:02:22]The Pope's theology is dead on. The Pope's theology about war is dead on.

[00:02:29]Now, Vance brings up just war as I think uh a way of escaping what it is the pope has been saying that basically that God doesn't answer the prayers of uh God won't answer your prayers because there's blood on your hands. You've killed innocents. God the war is war is atrocious that that we are supposed to be loving and kind and merciful to one another. Okay. The pope has had many, many things to say about this war in Iran and about the way the American administration is is doing things.

[00:03:03]He hasn't come out and said you should enact these policies. What the Pope has done is come out and said you must be very very careful about how you do the things that you're doing.

[00:03:16]It isn't right. It wouldn't be right for the pope to, for example, say you uh you can't do this and you can't do that. And it wouldn't be right for the pope to say you must and you must and you must. It wouldn't be right for the pope to write policy. But it is completely with inside the purview of the religious leader of one of the largest religious organizations in the world to say you're doing it immorally.

[00:03:44]the way you are treating people like you have the right to to deport people from your country yes sure but the way you're doing it is immoral that is completely within the purview of the pope now in this case again JD Vance he brings up just war as though well you know we can argue about what is just war actually no just war is as he said it's a very old uh it's a very old concept Christians have been wrestling with the concept of war forever. And what just war theology does is it says, listen, there there are certain standards. We're not going to get into all those standards. Check it out. You can Google it. They're out there. But it says under these conditions, under these conditions, war is war is war is permissible. It's never okay. And war is never good. Vance says something about, you know, how how the pope said that God isn't on the side. God doesn't take sides in war. War is a failure. Do do you remember a passage in it's in the Gospel of Matthew where Jesus is challenged and these these teachers of the law come up to him and say, "Listen, why is it why is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for for any reason?"

[00:05:08]And Jesus has to explain, okay, so the law says we can divorce, but God says, you know, two people are together and nobody should ever rip them apart. They should they should they're be they become one flesh. Well, how is it then that divorce can be justified?

[00:05:25]And what Jesus tells them is God never wanted divorce for you. But Moses understood that your hearts were so hard that once you got angry, once you once you just could no longer be together, there was no hope in keeping people there was no good in keeping people together. It was only going to bring bad things. And so he made it permissible.

[00:05:52]Okay? It's the same concept as war.

[00:05:56]We can say, okay, the church believes this is a just war. It doesn't mean that war isn't still the representation of a failure on our parts and our a failure to love, our failure to negotiate, our failure to to come to a reasonable conclusion so that we don't have to kill one another. A just war does not mean good. It does not mean blessed.

[00:06:22]It does not mean that that God has chosen a side because we've said it's just.

[00:06:29]It means we've done we believe we've done absolutely everything we possibly could to not fight this war.

[00:06:42]And damn it, we're still here.

[00:06:46]So we fight this war well aware of how it pains our creator.

[00:06:55]We fight this war knowing full well it violates God's desire for humanity. It violates the teachings of Jesus Christ.

[00:07:06]We fight this war because we have no other alternative. We cannot see any other alternative.

[00:07:18]But with just war also comes a just way of fighting the war. So it's not just you you can go to war if it's you can go to war if and you should fight that war like and after the war you should achieve this. Oh, and that's one of the greatest thing. All war must be from a just war perspective, all war must be fought for the expressed reason of peace in the end.

[00:07:55]Not money, not finances, not revenge, nothing like that. This must be done purely to protect lasting peace.

[00:08:06]And if it isn't going to bring about lasting peace, it's not a just war.

[00:08:13]There's been lots of I mean Trump the other day was asked, "Do you think God is on your side? Do you think God is on the side of the United States?" And he said, "Yes, absolutely, because God wants good things for people." And he's right on that. But God wants good things for every person regardless of their nationality. Not just the United States, not just Canada, not just England, not just Iran, not just Israel, not just South Africa, not just whoever. God wants good things for people. Period.

[00:08:41]War is not the representation.

[00:08:45]War is not the way God wants us to get good things for people. War does not bring good things for people.

[00:08:59]I was thinking about the just war and a Christian fighting a just war. I I was thinking about a Christian on the battlefield fighting a just war. And the only thought I had, the visual that I had was tears.

[00:09:22]Sure. We humans come to decide that yes, this conflict, this conflict would be seen as a just war.

[00:09:35]But those who fight it, God, it would just be nothing but tears.

[00:09:42]the commanders who who send troops in uh send in air strikes, send in tomahawk missiles, whatever it might be, those commanders as Christians should just be nothing but a ball of tears.

[00:09:55]Knowing full well that they're doing this understood, yeah, there's no other way around it. There's nothing else we could have done. We've exhausted every avenue, tried everything.

[00:10:12]This has to be done.

[00:10:17]But what we're doing is still evil.

[00:10:22]What we're doing is still causing so much harm to our brothers and sisters. What we're doing is causing death and destruction.

[00:10:34]What we're doing is breaking the Lord's heart.

[00:10:42]It would just be tears.

[00:10:47]I think maybe JD Vance would do well to understand what it is the Pope is saying. I I I think he would do well to understand that the Pope is not offering something frivolously.

[00:11:06]And I think he'd do well to understand that the Pope is not saying this as a a political message against Donald J.

[00:11:15]Trump.

[00:11:17]The Pope is saying this to all the faithful. The Pope is saying this to every Christian. The Pope is saying this to every believer. The Pope is saying this to every person of love. Please keep working for peace. War does not do the job.

[00:11:34]And even if it is the last possible thing we try, it comes with pain and sorrow and suffering. It comes with destruction. It doesn't build anything. It rips things down.

[00:11:53]And I think if he's going to bring up just war, then he should also be be very aware that with a just war comes just methodology and just healing.

[00:12:11]Those two things, those two things go with just war. You don't just have a righteous war and then walk away.

[00:12:20]No, no, no. You have responsibilities during and you have responsibilities after or it's not a just war.

[00:12:30]The Pope should be very very careful about his theology.

[00:12:36]The Pope's theology is spot on.

[00:12:41]as a believer. JD Vance is a a renowned Roman Catholic, a new new to it, but quite a famous one.

[00:12:53]As a believer, as a believer, he'd do well to accept what it is the pope is saying, not defend his boss from what the pope is saying, and perhaps be a voice within the administration, echoing what it is. Maybe not what it is the pope is saying, but echoing the importance of what it is that the pope is saying. e sharing why what the pope is offering should be heeded.

[00:13:28]Amen.