U.S. Catholic Bishops Respond To VP Vance's Criticism of Pope Leo

In his Palm Sunday Homily last month, Pope Leo XIV said in part:

Brothers and sisters, this is our God: Jesus, King of Peace, who rejects war, whom no one can use to justify war. He does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war, but rejects them, saying: “Even though you make many prayers, I will not listen: your hands are full of blood” (Is 1:15).

Earlier this week, Vice President JD Vance, speaking at a Turning Point USA Conference (video of the Vice President's remarks), criticized Pope Leo's statement, saying in part:

In the same way that it's important for the vice president of the 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.

The Vice President's statement led to a response (full text) posted yesterday by Bishop James Massa, chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Doctrine. The Bishop's Statement said in part:

“When Pope Leo XIV speaks as supreme pastor of the universal Church, he is not merely offering opinions on theology, he is preaching the Gospel and exercising his ministry as the Vicar of Christ. The consistent teaching of the Church is insistent that all people of good will must pray and work toward lasting peace while avoiding the evils and injustices that accompany all wars.”

Vice President's Hanukkah Reception Invite Includes Christmas Theme

Vice President JD Vance will host a Hanukkah Reception at the Vice President's Residence on December 15. The Invitation features a rendition of the Vice President's Residence in gold with the caption "The Golden Noel. Celebrating 50 Years of Christmas at the Vice President's Residence".

VP Vance Speaks to International Religious Freedom Summit

Vice President JD Vance yesterday delivered a 1 hour and 49-minute address to the 2025 International Religious Freedom Summit at the Washington Hilton Hotel in Washington D.C.  (Video of full remarks.) He said in part:

I'm here this morning in part to reflect not only on the words of our Founders, but especially on those of their intellectual forebears, the Church fathers of classical Christianity to which we owe the very notion of religious liberty. And I know we have people of every faith here, but it is, I think, a conceit of modern society that religious liberty is a liberal concept. But we know that religious freedom flows from concepts central to the Christian faith, in particular the free will of human beings and the essential dignity of all peoples. We find its foundational tenets in the Gospels themselves with Christ's famous instructions to render unto Ceaser that which is Ceaser's, and unto God that which is God's....

Our Administration believes we must stand for religious freedom not just as a legal principle, as important as that is, but as a lived reality both within our own borders and especially outside of it. In recent years too often has our Nation's international engagement on religious liberty issues been corrupted and distorted to the point of absurdity. Think about this. How did America get to the point where we're sending hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars abroad to NGO's that are dedicated to spreading atheism all over the globe.

Catholic News Agency and Religion News Service reported on his remarks.