New pope criticized JD Vance and Trump before becoming Pope
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Before assuming the papacy as Pope Leo XIV, Robert Prevost, a Chicago-born Cardinal, criticized Vice President JD Vance, immigration policies, and Trump's rhetoric on social media, POLITICO reported.
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Newly elected Pope Leo XIV concelebrates Mass with the College of Cardinals inside the Sistine Chapel at the Vatican, the day after he is elected 267th pontiff of the Roman Catholic Church, on May 9, 2025 (AP)
A social media account under the newly elected pope’s name repeatedly criticized the Trump administration and especially Vice President JD Vance in the months and years before assuming the papacy, according to Politico.
A series of posts under an account for Robert Prevost, who is now the Bishop of Rome and was newly appointed as Pope Leo XIV, shows the Chicago-born Cardinal reposting an op-ed that criticized Vance for his interpretation of his faith and for the strict immigration policies that Vance, along with President Donald Trump have touted.
POLITICO reported it could not independently verify whether the account was genuine, as the Vatican press office, the Vatican’s US embassy, the Midwestern Augustinians, and the dioceses of Chicago and Peru all declined to comment or did not respond to inquiries.
In mid-April, the account shared another user's criticism of Trump's Oval Office meeting with Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele, while also circulating an op-ed by Washington, DC auxiliary Catholic Bishop Evelio Menjivar that detailed the hardships faced by migrants abruptly deported to El Salvador under the Trump administration's policies.
As Trump & Bukele use Oval to 🤣 Feds’ illicit deportation of a US resident (https://t.co/t80iDMbBKf), once an undoc-ed Salvadorean himself, now-DC Aux +Evelio asks, “Do you not see the suffering? Is your conscience not disturbed? How can you stay quiet?” https://t.co/jTradMfr0v
— Rocco Palmo (@roccopalmo) April 14, 2025
“Do you not see the suffering? Is your conscience not disturbed?” the op-ed Cardinal Robert Prevost reposted reads.
In a more pointed example, the account posted an opinion piece from the National Catholic Reporter, a liberal-leaning Catholic newspaper, in February with the exact title "JD Vance is wrong: Jesus doesn't ask us to rank our love for others" without altering or commenting on the quotation.
JD Vance is wrong: Jesus doesn't ask us to rank our love for others https://t.co/hDKPKuMXmu via @NCRonline
— Robert Prevost (@drprevost) February 3, 2025
The account repeatedly expressed opposition to the death penalty and Trump's rhetoric while advocating for gun control measures and more inclusive immigration policies in multiple tweets spanning the 2016 presidential campaign through Trump's first term in office.
“It’s time to end the death penalty,” the account allegedly belonging to the new pope wrote in March of 2015, while in 2017, it reposted a tweet by Connecticut Senator Chris Murphy in which the senator called his colleagues to act on gun control saying, “your cowardice to act cannot be whitewashed by thoughts and prayers.”
That same year, the account shared a retweet of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops' statement denouncing hatred following the violent white supremacist demonstrations in Charlottesville, Virginia.
In May 2020, the account shared tweets supporting George Floyd's family after his police killing sparked nationwide protests, while calling for church leaders to denounce racism, writing: "We need to hear more from leaders in the Church, to reject racism and seek justice."
