{"id":331278,"date":"2026-04-19T12:27:39","date_gmt":"2026-04-19T12:27:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/political\/vance-says-hes-grateful-for-pope-leos-statement-on-not-wanting-public-debate-with-trump.html"},"modified":"2026-04-19T12:27:39","modified_gmt":"2026-04-19T12:27:39","slug":"vance-says-hes-grateful-for-pope-leos-statement-on-not-wanting-public-debate-with-trump","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/political\/vance-says-hes-grateful-for-pope-leos-statement-on-not-wanting-public-debate-with-trump.html","title":{"rendered":"Vance says he&#8217;s &#8216;grateful&#8217; for Pope Leo&#8217;s statement on not wanting public debate with Trump"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>  <a href=\"javascript:void(0)\">    <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/timesofnews.b-cdn.net\/timesofnewscdn\/usa\/03085e91_image.jpg\" alt=\"Pope Leo does not want to 'debate' Trump on war\" width=\"896\" height=\"500\" data-v-324c3b57=\"\" \/> <span class=\"overlay\" data-v-324c3b57=\"\">Video<\/span><\/a> <!--&gt; \n\n<h4 class=\"title\" data-v-324c3b57=\"\"><a href=\"javascript:void(0)\">Pope Leo does not want to 'debate' Trump on war<\/a><\/h4>\n\n \n\n<p data-v-324c3b57=\"\">Pope Leo responded Monday to President Donald Trump's criticism of him, repeating the biblical mantra that \"blessed are the peacemakers.\"<\/p>\n\n \n\n<p class=\"speakable\">Vice President <a href=\"javascript:void(0)\">JD Vance<\/a> said Saturday he was \"grateful\" after Pope Leo XIV sought to ease tensions with President Donald Trump and indicated he had no interest in engaging in a public dispute.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"speakable\">The pontiff said earlier Saturday that coverage of remarks he made during a recent trip to Africa had created \"a certain narrative that has not been accurate in all of its aspects.\" He added that the speech in question had been prepared weeks before any response from Trump, pushing back on suggestions it was directed at the president.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Vance, who is Catholic and <a href=\"javascript:void(0)\">met Pope Leo at the Vatican<\/a> in 2025, welcomed the pontiff\u2019s latest comments. Earlier in the week, Vance had suggested the pope should \"be careful\" when weighing in on theological and political matters, underscoring the tensions that had emerged.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\"While the media narrative constantly gins up conflict \u2014 and yes, real disagreements have happened and will happen \u2014 the reality is often much more complicated,\" Vance said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\"Pope Leo preaches <a href=\"javascript:void(0)\">the gospel<\/a>, as he should, and that will inevitably mean he offers his opinions on the moral issues of the day. The president \u2014 and the entire administration \u2014 work to apply those moral principles in a messy world. He will be in our prayers, and I hope that we'll be in his.\"<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"javascript:void(0)\"><strong>POPE LEO SAYS REMARKS ABOUT WORLD BEING 'RAVAGED BY A \u200bHANDFUL OF TYRANTS' WERE NOT AIMED AT TRUMP: REPORT<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/timesofnews.b-cdn.net\/timesofnewscdn\/usa\/8d72683a_jd-vance-tp-usa-athens.jpeg\" alt=\"JD Vance at TPUSA Event in Athens, Georgia\" width=\"1200\" height=\"675\" \/> \n\n<p><span>U.S. Vice President JD Vance speaks during a Turning Point USA event at Akins Ford Arena at the Classic Center on April 14, 2026 in Athens, Georgia.<\/span> <span>(Chip Somodevilla\/Getty Images)<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There appeared to be tension after Pope Leo delivered remarks in Cameroon in which he criticized those who \"<a href=\"javascript:void(0)\">manipulate religion<\/a>\" for political and military gain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\"Jesus told us, blessed are the peacemakers. But woe to those who manipulate religion and the very name of God for their own military, economic or political gain, dragging that which is sacred into darkness and filth,\" Pope Leo said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The words were interpreted by some as tied to the Trump administration\u2019s stance on the <a href=\"javascript:void(0)\">conflict with Iran<\/a>, helping to spark a broader dispute between the White House and the Vatican.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"javascript:void(0)\"><strong>TRUMP ACCUSES POPE LEO OF BEING 'TERRIBLE' ON FOREIGN POLICY OVER PONTIFF'S ANTI-WAR COMMENTS<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/timesofnews.b-cdn.net\/timesofnewscdn\/usa\/c292f752_president-donald-trump-pope-leo-xiv-fox-news.jpeg\" alt=\"Split image shows Pope Leo XIV and President Donald Trump amid policy dispute.\" width=\"1200\" height=\"675\" \/> \n\n<p><span>A split image shows Pope Leo XIV, left, and President Donald Trump, right, amid a public dispute over immigration policy and the conflict involving Iran.<\/span> <span>(Simone Risoluti - Vatican Media via Vatican Pool\/Getty Images; Salwan Georges\/Bloomberg via Getty Images)<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The pope also <a href=\"javascript:void(0)\">criticized rhetoric surrounding the conflict<\/a>, at one point calling comments about potentially targeting Iran\u2019s \"whole civilization\" \"truly unacceptable.\" Trump responded by calling the pontiff \"WEAK on crime, and terrible for Foreign Policy.\"<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The disagreement unfolded over several days, with <a href=\"javascript:void(0)\">senior administration officials<\/a> defending the president and offering their own criticism of the pope\u2019s remarks, further amplifying the clash.<\/p>\n\n <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/timesofnews.b-cdn.net\/timesofnewscdn\/usa\/5281ac53_pope-leo-xiv-flight-fox-news-001.jpeg\" alt=\"Pope Leo XIV answering journalists' questions on a plane.\" width=\"1200\" height=\"675\" \/> \n\n<p><span>Pope Leo XIV answers journalists' questions during his flight from Yaounde, Cameroon, to Luanda, Angola, on Saturday, April 18, 2026.<\/span> <span>(Luca Zennaro\/Pool Photo via AP)<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"javascript:void(0)\"><strong>CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Despite the escalating perceived tension, <a href=\"javascript:void(0)\">the pope said Saturday<\/a> that it was \"not in my interest at all\" to debate the president and emphasized that he would continue preaching a message centered on peace, justice and brotherhood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\"Much of what has been written since then has been commentary on commentary trying to interpret what has been said,\" the pope said.<\/p>\n\n --> <!--&gt; \n\n<p>Bradford Betz is a Fox News Digital breaking reporter covering crime, <a href=\"javascript:void(0)\">political issues, <\/a>and much more.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n--><\/p>\n<p>Article source: https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/politics\/vance-says-hes-grateful-pope-leos-statement-wanting-public-debate-trump<\/a>\r\n<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Video Article source: https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/politics\/vance-says-hes-grateful-pope-leos-statement-wanting-public-debate-trump<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[84],"class_list":["post-331278","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-political","tag-political"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/331278","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=331278"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/331278\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=331278"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=331278"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usa.timesofnews.com\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=331278"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}