Pope Leo XIV is far more popular among Catholics than U.S. Vice President JD Vance, according to a new poll.
Vance, who is set to release a new memoir this week about his conversion to Catholicism, has a net favorability of -12 points among Catholics, according to the latest Navigator poll, conducted June 4-8.
That is compared to Pope Leo’s +57 net favorability rating.
The Daily Beast has contacted the vice president’s office for comment.
Vance converted to Catholicism in 2019 at age 35 after being raised in a Protestant household and going through what he has described as an “angry atheist phase” as a student, before returning to his Christian faith.
He details his conversion in his new 304-page memoir Communion: Finding My Way Back to Faith, which drew attention for featuring a Methodist church on its front cover despite being a book about Catholicism.
Despite being a relatively new Catholic, the vice president has, in the past, taken it upon himself to school the pope on Catholic theology after the Pontiff publicly criticized the Trump administration on multiple occasions.
“I think it’s very, very important for the pope to be careful when he talks about matters of theology‚” the vice president said at a Turning Point USA event in Georgia in April.
Pope Leo, who is originally from Chicago, has clashed with Trump over his invasion of Venezuela, the administration’s treatment of immigrants, and the war in Iran, which he condemned as “a war which many people have said is unjust.”
“God does not bless any conflict,” the Pontiff wrote on X in April. “Anyone who is a disciple of Christ, the Prince of Peace, is never on the side of those who once wielded the sword and today drop bombs.”
Vance tried to prove the pope, who holds a degree in theology from the Catholic Theological Union in Chicago and a doctorate from the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas in Rome, wrong in his remarks in April.
Vance invoked just war theory, citing WWII and arguing that God can be “on the side of those who wield the sword.”
“There is a thousand-year, more than a thousand-year tradition of just war theory, OK?” Vance told the pope, who once led the order founded by the theologian St. Augustine of Hippo, who developed the just war theory.
The just war theory holds that violence may be justified only under strict conditions, such as self-defense against unjust aggression.
But despite his differences with the pope, Vance has maintained that open discussion is important for seeking truth and understanding God.
“I think it’s totally reasonable, and actually a good thing, even when I disagree. Like, I’ve disagreed a lot with what the pope has said about our immigration policy, for example. But I think it’s a good thing for Christian leaders to say what they think about the moral issues of the day. ‘Cause I’m a big believer that the way that we ultimately find God, the way that we ultimately find truth, is to discuss some of these important issues with one another,” he told CBS.
But Vance’s boss, Trump, has had a more hostile approach to his disagreements with the pope, with Trump falsely claiming Pope Leo said Iran can have a nuclear weapon.
There is no record of Pope Leo ever suggesting Iran should be allowed to obtain a nuclear weapon.
Responding to criticism from Trump, Leo said he won’t be silenced and will continue to oppose the war with Iran, a conflict he said was driven by a “delusion of omnipotence.”
“I have no fear of the Trump administration, or speaking out loudly of the message of the Gospel, which is what I believe I am here to do,” Leo said.
