Pope Francis has been feuding with the Trump administration over proposed changes to immigration policy. Recently, the Pontiff attacked Vice President JD Vance. Vance made a statement based on historical Catholic thinking, positing that we owe more to our country’s citizens than to illegal immigrants. The Pope criticized Vance’s argument.
“There’s this old school, and I think it’s a very Christian concept, by the way, that you love your family, and then you love your neighbor, and then you love your community, and then you love your fellow citizens in your own country. And then after that, you can focus and prioritize the rest of the world,” Vance said. “A lot of the far left has completely inverted that they seem to hate the citizens of their own country and care more about people outside their own borders.”
“That is no way to run a society. And I think the profound difference that Donald Trump brings to the leadership of this country is that the simple concept America first,” he added. It doesn’t mean you hate anybody else. It means that you have leadership, and President Trump has been very clear about this that puts the interests of American citizens first.”
Vance went on to say, “In the same way that the British Prime Minister should care about Brits and the French should care about the French, we have an American president who cares primarily about Americans, and that’s a very welcome change.” In response to this quote, Francis fired back at Vice President Vance’s well-reasoned argument.
“Christians know very well that it is only by affirming the infinite dignity of all that our own identity as persons and as communities reaches its maturity,” the Pope replied. ” Christian love is not a concentric expansion of interests that little by little extend to other persons and groups. In other words: The human person is not a mere individual, relatively expansive, with some philanthropic feelings!“
He added, “The human person is a subject with dignity who, through the constitutive relationship with all, especially with the poorest, can gradually mature in his identity and vocation. The true ordo amoris that must be promoted is that which we discover by meditating constantly on the parable of the ‘Good Samaritan’ (cf. Lk 10:25-37), that is, by meditating on the love that builds a fraternity open to all, without exception.”
Despite his Catholic faith, Vance has often clashed with Catholic officials. After the US Conference of Catholic Bishops said Trump was responsible for “turning places of care, healing, and solace into places of fear and uncertainty for those in need, ” they warned that it puts “the trust between pastors” and “the people they serve” at risk. Vance expressed his view: “As a practicing Catholic, I was actually heartbroken by that statement.” Vance converted to Catholicism recently.
“I think that the US Conference of Catholic Bishops needs to actually look in the mirror a little bit and recognize that when they receive over $100 million to help resettle illegal immigrants. Are they worried about humanitarian concerns? Or are they actually worried about their bottom line?” he expressed. “If they’re worried about the humanitarian costs of immigration enforcement, let them talk about the children who have been sex trafficked because of the wide open border of Joe Biden.”