Vance advises Pope Leo to be ‘careful’ when talking about theology
Vice President J.D. Vance shared his thoughts on President Donald Trump’s feud with Pope Leo at a Turning Point USA Tour event.
WASHINGTON – Vice President J.D. Vance has always struggled with his personality.
A siren song of power and prestige. The urge to be better than others. The question that lingers: Am I doing this for myself?
Of course, there are good reasons to aspire to higher office, including a desire to serve the country and steer public policy in the right direction, Vance told USA TODAY in a phone interview.
And then there’s what he calls “the bad stuff.”
“There’s a desire to have power. There’s a desire to influence or control other people,” says Vance, 41. “And I think my Christianity is trying to mentor me and force me to focus on the good.”
For Vance, one of the youngest vice presidents in American history and a possible presidential candidate, Catholicism has been an anchor in a sea of responsibilities, from marriage to fatherhood to counseling the commander-in-chief. He explores these themes in his latest book, Communion, a memoir focused on his Christian faith.
That hunger is the same as Vance’s when he pursued a law degree at Yale University. Because that’s what he thought society expected of him. At the time, he wrote in Communion, that he was blindly pursuing his ambitions.
In an interview ahead of the memoir’s June 16 release, Vance called this a natural “flaw.”
“That drive within me, that desire for fame, that desire to be better than others, is something that’s probably always just been part of who I am, and it’s something that my faith tells me to fight against, push back against, and focus on the good,” Vance told USA TODAY.
a person who converted to Catholicism
His religion doesn’t always come out on top. Since becoming vice president last year, Mr. Vance has clashed with not one but two popes and broken with the Vatican over mass immigration and the war with Iran.
Vance wouldn’t go so far as to say that his beliefs have been tested by the choices he’s made since becoming the nation’s second-in-command. Instead, he says, he tries to make “wise decisions and moral decisions.”
A relatively new Catholic who converted in 2019 after spending several years rediscovering Christianity, Vance is wary of telling others how to apply the faith to their lives.
This includes his Hindu wife Usha and their four soon-to-be-born children. They are expecting a baby boy in July.
The couple’s young children attend Catholic schools in Washington, D.C., but the couple has allowed them to choose their own religion. The oldest member of the Vance family, 9-year-old Ewan, chose to be baptized.
The vice president sparked intense criticism last October when he said he wanted to see his spouse convert to Christianity. He has since acknowledged that it is unlikely that will happen, writing in his book that his wife encouraged him to reconnect with his religion.
Usha Vance dismissed gossip about her marital life in an interview with USA TODAY in December, in which she spoke candidly about her Hindu faith. The second woman said that when she was young, her family celebrated the religious importance of Christmas and exchanged gifts with friends in Southern California.
The Vance family attends Mass with their children most weeks. This is in contrast to President Donald Trump, who is a nondenominational Christian who does not go to church.
President Trump has shared his belief that he was “saved by God” during an assassination attempt at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on the eve of the 2024 Republican National Convention. Less than 48 hours later, he announced that he had chosen Mr. Vance, a former critic turned supporter, as his running mate.
The day after the inauguration ceremony on January 20, 2025, the two leaders and their wives attended an inauguration prayer meeting.
President Trump, who turns 80 this month, has occasionally talked about life after death. More than once during his second term, he wondered aloud whether he had done enough to earn his place in heaven.
President Trump appeared on “Fox & Friends” last August and said, “If possible, I would like to go to heaven.” “I hear you’re not feeling well.”
Vance chuckled when asked about Trump’s dignity and whether the president had ever sought spiritual advice from him.
“No, he’s not. I mean, I don’t know what to say,” Vance responded, calling himself a “very imperfect Christian in life.”
The president is joking, Vance insists. But all humor, he adds, is based on an element of truth.
“I think like all of us, he’s thinking about his relationship with God and his faith,” Vance says. “He’s a man of faith. He doesn’t talk about it much publicly, but he believes in God.”
