Months before Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost became the first American Pope, a social media account under his name expressed criticism of Vice President Jd Vance, sharing an article that called the vice-president’s interpretation of Christian doctrine “wrong.”
The article was a contestation of the interpretation of a Catholic teaching that Vance used to defend the Trump government deportation policies.
Post no X, which the account shared in February, was one of several that highlighted articles criticizing the Trump government’s positions on immigration.
In April, the name under the name of Cardinal Prevost shared a comment from a Catholic writer who wondered if President Trump and President Nayib Bukele of El Salvador saw “suffering” caused by their immigration policies.
“Isn’t your conscience disturbed?” Wrote the author, Rocco Palmo. “How can you be silent?”
In July 2015, the account reposed an article by Cardinal Timothy Dolan, from New York, which described Trump’s “anti-immigrant” rhetoric as “problematic.” Three years later, the Account shared a post by Chicago’s Cardinal Blase Cupich, stating that there was “nothing remotely Christian, American or morally defensible” in the government’s policy of separating migrant children from their parents.
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Criticism of Trump echoes largely the positions of Pope Francis, who also expressed his disagreement with government deportation policies. Although Cardinal Prevost seemed relatively active in the X, the account largely avoided expressing his own opinions and instead replaced comments made by church leaders and catholic news vehicle articles. It was unclear whether he managed the account in person or if she was operated by team members.
Sometimes the account ventured into other contentious areas of American politics. In 2020, he shared a statement signed by seven American bishops claiming to be “broken, disgusted and outraged” for the murder of George Floyd, who described as a “warning.”
So far, Trump does not seem to keep the Pope’s grudge for previous criticism. , the president said he eagerly awaited to meet the new Pope.
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Vance, a Catholic convert that met with Pope Francis shortly before his death, also sent wishes of happiness on Thursday afternoon.
“Congratulations to Leo XIV, the first American pope, for his election!” He wrote on social networks. “I’m sure millions of American Catholics and other Christians will pray for their successful work at the head of the church. May God bless you!”
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