U.S. Vice President

JD Vance

has once more made headlines

alongside the leader

of the

Catholic Church

. However, this time, it is because

Vance failed to kiss the Pope’s ring

During his inaugural Mass at the Vatican.

In an interview with the New York Times, Vance, who is 40 years old, said he attended the event as Vice President of the United States rather than as a “Catholic parishioner.” According to The Times, besides participating in the Mass, Vance also gave remarks.

with the religious leader

Regarding migration, abortion, and family support.

As per the vice president, kissing the Pope’s ring goes against the protocol designated for a vice president. He further stated, “There’s no lack of respect intended, but I am here representing the nation I serve.”


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“The purpose of American politics,” he said, “should be to encourage our citizens to live a good life.” Vance revealed that he toed his boss’s line of defending the deportation of illegal immigrants while affirming “the dignity of migrants” and acknowledging tensions with Church leaders.

Immigration has been a contentious subject between the two leaders, as Leo, then Cardinal Prevost, condemned Vance and

Donald Trump

for their treatment of the migrants. Several people slammed Vance’s “apology.”

One person wrote in a TikTok video, “JD Vance not kissing the Pope’s ring tells you everything you need to know,” which was later posted to X. ” He didn’t want to kiss the ring or kneel before him so couldn’t upset the evangelical MAGA base for is run in 2028.

“Everything about Vance is fake, and he is subverting the right wing before our eyes,” the person finished. “Vance should have kissed the Pope’s ring out of respect instead of cowering to what American Evangelicals and secularists might have thought,” a second person commented.

“Contrast his reluctance with how former Philadelphia Mayor Frank Rizzo treated Pope John Paul II during his visit to the city in 1979,” they noted. “At minimum, he ought to have performed a bow,” added another individual. “It’s worth remembering that he didn’t hesitate to wear a yarmulke and kneel at the Western Wall,” said a third commenter.

Other people defended the Vice President. “The Vice President didn’t violate a Catholic doctrine nor did he break from the Church on an important moral teaching,” one person commented.

“I’m fine with Vance deviating from standard procedures to focus on a political strategy or objective as he deems appropriate,” they said. “Deviate from protocols, certainly. But violating Catholic doctrine? No.”

Nobody should kneel before anyone else in a religious setting. End of story,” another individual asserted. “Moreover, Vance is speaking for the United States. We do not bow to any foreign ruler.

Someone even remarked, “The Pope merits no consideration.” It was reported that Vance attended the Mass shortly after urging the Vatican to offer “moral guidance” in the era of artificial intelligence.

a tool that Donald Trump has been using frequently recently

.

The request made by the Vice President seemed quite random when he began speaking about the arms race before moving on to discuss Artificial Intelligence.

The rant was also unclear.

as it gave connotations that there was an elaborate information technology setup at the headquarters of the Catholic Church.

As per Vance, the U.S. finds itself in “This aspect of the arms race involves us pausing while the People’s Republic of China continues without stopping, which could leave us under the influence of AI controlled by the PRC.” He further stated, “We’re currently at the Vatican Embassy in Rome, and what Pope Leo might accomplish here isn’t only beneficial for the Church but also for humanity as a whole; I believe this would be among his most significant and favorable contributions.”


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