Vance tells Pope 'stick to matters of morality' as Iran rift grows

[0:00] for the third straight day president trump is criticizing the pope the president told an italian [0:05] newspaper that the pontiff quote doesn't understand and shouldn't be talking about war [0:10] because he has no idea what's happening pope leo has opposed the war with iran saying that jesus [0:15] rejects war meantime the highest ranking catholic in the u.s government is now weighing in vice [0:21] president jd vance who's writing a book about finding his faith and catholicism said this on [0:27] fox news we certainly have a good relationship with the vatican but we're also going to disagree [0:33] on substantive questions from time to time i think that's a totally reasonable thing i certainly think [0:38] that in some cases it would be best for the vatican to stick to matters of morality to stick to matters [0:46] of of uh you know what's going on in the catholic church and let the president united states stick [0:51] to dictating american public policy let's talk about this with cnn vatican analyst katie mcgrady [0:58] she's also the host of the katie mcgrady show on sirius xm's the catholic channel the channel is [1:03] operated by the archdiocese of new york katie thank you so much for being with us what does the pope [1:09] decide to speak about when it comes to world affairs what does he decide how does he go about deciding [1:15] what to weigh in on it's a great question he's often obviously well informed the holy father is not [1:23] some sort of you know locked away in a castle unaware of the world's challenges and problems he's [1:29] he's a very well connected well informed man but he's not going to make pronouncements [1:34] on everything his personal opinion is not going to be announced on every single issue [1:39] in the case of of this particular kerfuffle the holy father was specifically asked at a press gaggle [1:46] about president trump's tweet about ending a civilization if a deal wasn't reached and he said obviously that [1:54] can't stand he wasn't the only global leader who spoke about that it was widely condemned and that [2:00] was perceived as a punch the holy father speaks about issues that he's asked directly about that [2:06] obviously directly affect church affairs but also he is a moral voice in the world think back to pope [2:13] francis during the time of covid and he prayed for healing or think about pope benedict and john paul [2:19] the second during iraq and afghanistan so they will absolutely speak on issues of global affairs both [2:26] when asked and when they know they need to be a moral voice of authority talking about common good [2:31] talking about peace you know he's not late being the president is late night tweeting the pope is [2:35] answering questions and praying president trump has claimed that pope leo was only put there [2:43] by the church as a response to his presidency i see you nodding and sort of laughing a little [2:49] bit what do you say to that i mean utterly absurd and ridiculous i don't know how much main character [2:56] energy you have to have to think you got the pope elected the thing is i think what what comes with [3:04] an american pope on a global stage is this assumption that american pope will love american president [3:11] will love american policies and pope leo the 14th is probably the only american that could have gotten [3:17] elected because of his global not just connections but his ministry his background his cv his his history [3:24] i think it's patently absurd and i think we should call that out for what it was this this weird [3:30] interjection of well you know i have some power over you i put you in that position of power so therefore [3:37] you should be okay with what i'm doing that's how it read and i mean many many catholics were upset by that [3:43] because obviously we believe that the conclave is this not political thing it is a very prayerful [3:48] thing and almost a year ago we were covering that extensively here on cnn and talking about that [3:53] that that was really out of line for the president to say that katie a moment ago you mentioned uh his [3:59] predecessor pope francis um how would you compare the approach from pope leo to pope francis when it comes [4:06] to commenting on world affairs also a great question pope francis was very shoot by the hip kind of give [4:16] a lot of general commentaries especially on planes he loved doing his press conference on planes and [4:22] sometimes that would get misinterpreted or he was speaking from a very argentinian south american [4:28] perspective leo has been a little more reserved he's not been quiet he certainly roared like leo the lion [4:35] but has done so in a little bit more of a measured way and i think that's very appreciated it's [4:41] interesting that this comment is being made oh stay in your lane only comment on morality you know just [4:47] the church affairs the pope is never going to stay in a lane that somebody else puts him in the pope is [4:54] the one who makes the lanes and honestly the rest of the world should get on board because he is going [4:58] to preach truth with a capital t and the gospel and so yes they're very different they are aligned [5:04] though as all popes have been aligned in preaching jesus christ and the truth and that's that's going [5:10] to ruffle feathers it is mind-boggling that he wants to continue this and and and yet it's totally within [5:15] character so i it's not uh terribly surprising but when you say as he said as you just read that the pope [5:23] shouldn't talk about war that's like saying the fed chair shouldn't talk about the economy i mean like [5:29] he the the he is like part of the mission of of him guiding his flock is to a place of peace right [5:35] like that is at core so to say the pope shouldn't talk about war just i think misunderstands what the [5:41] pope's reason for being is and i think to take it personal that a pope any pope would have an anti-war [5:49] message further misses the mark like this is what like every pope has it yeah this is what they do is [5:56] they speak out against war they speak out against innocent lives being lost centuries ago not so [6:01] much but recently yes modern day popes tend to be against war tend to be against human suffering and [6:08] things like that so it's like you know and i would just note this current pope is from chicago like [6:15] he's made it clear that he's not going to back down in a few you know he said i'm not scared of the [6:21] trump administration so it's like do we really want to back and forth let's start with that [6:25] image uh that ai image that the president put out why does it seem or at least i'll just say like [6:31] this feels different than other things that he has said and done that have been viewed by many as [6:38] offensive to the faithful well i don't know if you remember on palm sunday he did say that jesus [6:44] enters jerusalem like a king with people cheering and now look at me they call me a king so he made [6:51] like a comparison to himself in jesus the beginning of holy week and then we have this image to me it's [6:58] unmistakably an image of jesus what he's wearing the rays coming from heaven the light emanating from his [7:05] hands as jesus the healer so why would you put yourself as a healer it seems to me that donald trump [7:14] in our country and in the world has been anything but a healer he's been a divider he's been a sower of [7:22] injustice i'm afraid and so maybe he's trying to reform his image by wanting to follow more like [7:29] jesus i want to give him the benefit of the doubt but just landed really poorly yeah it sure seemed to [7:34] and and what he's saying about pope leo and pope leo speaking gospel um and the message that the pope [7:43] has been sending out and speaking out against the war with iran his view and attempted to depict [7:50] the pope is i'll just say it seems on some level like any other politician does this speak to what [7:56] many have seen has become evident over the years of donald trump being a politician which is just that [8:02] his of him having somewhat of a fundamental misunderstanding of faith i think so i mean to [8:08] say the pope is weak and terrible on foreign policy or that he's not tough on crime i mean it doesn't [8:18] make sense it's like saying a doctor is bad at carpentry you know like it's not his job the job [8:23] of the pope is to put forth the gospel to try to have the message of jesus out there of peace and [8:30] solidarity and ministry to the poor so why would you make this kind of critique about a religious man [8:38] whose mission is totally different than creating foreign policy so i think there's a misunderstanding [8:44] but i think anyone who critiques president trump's agenda and what he's trying to do [8:50] he lashes out at and sometimes in irrational ways let's focus on on this trip that the pope is in the [8:57] midst of um it's a 10-day trip and i was looking i didn't really appreciate just how grueling like [9:03] physically and this trip really is i mean it's he's it's multiple countries he's going to be taking [9:09] 18 flights and two helicopters over the span of all of this but set that aside what is the meaning of [9:16] this trip what is the message of this trip you think well he's choosing the four poorest countries [9:22] of africa not the high profile countries the most war ravaged countries right now and he's trying to say [9:29] that you matter there's a lot of political oppression with the leaders in these countries so it's a [9:35] common theme of trying to liberate those who feel oppressed he started interestingly in algeria and [9:41] that's where the patience in of his community saint augustine he's an augustinian that's where augustine [9:47] was bishop and he knelt at the tomb of augustine on his first day and augustine created the just war [9:54] theory and trump is saying this war is the just war the pope is saying no so this image [10:01] him kneeling at the tomb of the one who created this just war theory which goes against what trump [10:09] is saying i think was a very important one and a very divinely serendipitous one what are the chances [10:16] that he's going to be there at that tomb on that day when all this emerges so it was interesting to [10:20] me and i think it's a wonderful mission of him to go to these countries and choose these countries [10:25] and speak as forcefully as he is