JD Vance—who calls himself a “baby Catholic”—is freaking out after the White House slammed Pope Leo XIV for his criticism of the Trump administration’s immigration policies.
The vice president popped off after Letters from Leo, a Substack by Democratic Catholic activist Christopher Hale, published comments from the first American pope urging U.S. immigration authorities to allow detained migrants to receive communion.
Hale’s post centered on the Chicago-born pontiff’s appeal following reports that migrants held at an Illinois facility were blocked from receiving communion. The pope called on the Trump administration to respect migrants’ dignity and religious liberty, saying authorities should “allow pastoral workers to assist with the needs of these people.”
Hale claimed that when he approached the White House for comment, an unnamed spokesperson said that “the pope doesn’t know what he’s talking about.”
According to Hale, the alleged remark “enraged” Vance, who publicly demanded Hale reveal the identity of the White House official.
Hey Chris, which WH spokesperson gave you this comment?
— JD Vance (@JDVance) November 5, 2025
“Hey Chris, which WH spokesperson gave you this comment?” Vance asked on X.
Hale did not appear to have replied to Vance, but angrily attacked him and his boss in a subsequent post: “If President Trump and Vice President Vance put as much energy into lowering prices as they put into denying Catholics the Eucharist, working families might finally be able to afford groceries without divine intervention.”
Vance, who received his first communion in Ohio after converting to Catholicism in 2019, has a history of clashing with Vatican authorities over Trump’s brutal immigration policies, which many Catholic advocates argue conflict with Christian teaching. The vast majority of those rounded up in the anti-migrant drive—as many as nine out of 10, according to one analysis—have been Catholics from Latin America.
At the National Catholic Prayer Breakfast earlier this year, the vice president leaned into his newness to the church, telling attendees: “I recognize very much that I am a baby Catholic… If you ever hear me pontificating about the Catholic faith, please recognize it comes from a place of deep belief, but it also comes from a place of not always knowing everything all the time.”
He also made clear that he would not back down over the Trump administration’s crackdown on migrants.
“My goal here is not to litigate with him or any other clergy member about who’s right and who’s wrong. You obviously know my views, and I will speak to them consistently, because I think that I have to do it, because it serves the best interests of the American people,” Vance said.
The Daily Beast has contacted the White House for comment.
Vance converted to Catholicism at the age of 35 after being raised as an evangelical. In 2019, he told Rod Dreher, a right-wing writer and Orthodox Christian, that “his views on public policy and what the optimal state should look like are pretty aligned with Catholic social teaching.”
“I saw a real overlap between what I would like to see and what the Catholic Church would like to see,” he said.
The pope said Tuesday night that “a deep reflection” needs to be made “in terms of what’s happening” in the U.S. and Donald Trump’s mission to crack down on immigration.
“Jesus says very clearly at the end of the world, we’re going to be asked, you know, how did you receive the foreigner? Did you receive him and welcome him or not?”
“Many people who’ve lived for years and years and years, never causing problems, have been deeply affected by what’s going on right now,” the pontiff added.
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