‘Look in the Mirror’: New Catholic JD Vance Lectures Church Leaders on Faith

J.D. Vance
CBS

Vice President JD Vance lectured a group of Catholic bishops on their approach to religious practice during an interview Sunday, lashing out at them for criticizing the White House’s approach to immigration.

Face the Nation moderator Margaret Brennan pressed Vance, a Catholic convert, over the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' condemnation of President Donald Trump’s various immigration-related executive orders. The group said on Wednesday Trump’s orders, some of which allow the government to raid churches for undocumented immigrants, were “deeply troubling” and “will harm the most vulnerable among us. It continued a trend of religious leaders criticizing the administration’s approach to immigration.

“Do you personally support the idea of conducting a raid or enforcement action in a church service, at a school?” Brennan asked.

Vance bashed the organization, claiming that as “a practicing Catholic, ” he was “heartbroken” by the statement. He questioned whether the church was more focused on money than its religious values.

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“I think that the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops needs to actually look in the mirror a little bit and recognize that when they receive over $100 million to help resettle illegal immigrants, are they worried about humanitarian concerns? Or are they actually worried about their bottom line?” Vance said.

He also claimed the organization has been a barrier to law enforcement detaining undocumented immigrants and said he supports law enforcement entering from anywhere—including churches and schools—to remove them. “We empowered law enforcement to enforce the law everywhere, to protect Americans,” he said.

“I think the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has, frankly, not been a good partner in common sense immigration enforcement that the American people voted for, and I hope, again, as a devout Catholic, that they’ll do better,” he said.

Vance’s critiques were notable for a writer-turned-politician who converted to the Catholic Church five years ago after an evangelical upbringing. He has since entrenched himself within the church’s more theological and socially conservative camps, a divergence from Pope Francis' more liberal approach to running the denomination.

The Trump administration’s immediate crackdown on undocumented immigrants has been criticized by various religious groups since his inauguration, both via statements and in public. Trump, Vance, and their families heard such concerns directly last week from Episcopal Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde, who pleaded with them during a sermon to “have mercy... on those in our communities whose children fear that their parents will be taken away.”

Trump then attacked the bishop on Truth Social and called her a “Radical left hard line Trump hater.”