Pope Leo XIV took a subtle dig at the Trump administration during his first homily as the Catholic Church’s new leader—with JD Vance in attendance.
“In this our time, we still see too much discord, too many wounds caused by hatred, violence, prejudice, the fear of difference, and an economic paradigm that exploits the Earth’s resources and marginalizes the poorest,” he said on Sunday.
Leo told attendees—which included Vice President Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney—that love was the ideal way to capture people’s attention.
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It was “never a question of capturing others by force, by religious propaganda or by means of power,” according to The New York Times.
The comments came as Trump has attacked nearly everyone—from world leaders to the media to law firms—who oppose him, disparaged and rounded up immigrants, and openly mused about seizing foreign land and resources. Trump has contemplated invading Greenland, said the United States would “take over” the Gaza Strip, and struck a deal with Ukraine to give the U.S. preferential treatment to mine the country‘s minerals.
Vance and Rubio were in Vatican City for the pope’s inauguration, which came nearly a month after the death of Pope Francis. Leo, born Robert Prevost, had taken shots at Vance and the Trump administration’s anti-immigration policies on a since-deleted X account with his name, including reposting an opinion column with the blunt title: “JD Vance is wrong: Jesus doesn’t ask us to rank our love for others.”
Vance and second lady Usha Vance also briefly met Leo after the Mass, shaking hands in what some speculated was a gesture of goodwill after the pope’s past criticism of the vice president. Vance brushed off the criticism earlier this month: “I try not to play the politicization of the Pope game,” he said.
Vance met Pope Francis briefly before his death, another pontiff who criticized the administration’s hostility toward immigrants. Francis and Leo were close before the former’s April 21 death. He visited Francis’ tomb on Saturday and appeared to wear the tie Francis had gifted him last month, according to the Daily Wire.
Leo said on Sunday the world presented unique challenges that the Church’s college of cardinals hoped he could help solve with his election—and then took direct aim at the anti-immigration ideologies sweeping nations, including Donald Trump’s in the U.S.
He also highlighted multiple nations’ plights toward the end of the Mass, noting how children and families in Gaza “are reduced to hunger” and how fighting in Myanmar has claimed “young innocent lives,” according to The New York Times.
About 200,000 people gathered for the Mass, according to the Times.
