In the Gospel of Matthew’s version of the Beatitudes, Jesus blesses the poor in spirit, including the mourners, the meek, the merciful, the peacemakers and the persecuted. In the version recounted by Luke, that list is narrowed down to just the poor, the hungry, those who weep and the excluded. As U.S. Vice President JD Vance just learned, however, nowhere on either list is there any blessing for the overconfident novice.
Last week, amid an ongoing spat between President Donald Trump and Pope Leo XIV over the U.S. war against Iran, Vance—who converted to Catholicism in 2019—sought to correct the pope on matters of theology. Specifically, Vance argued that, in calling for an end to the war and stating that God would never be on the side of those who advocate for violence, Leo had overlooked a core tenet of Catholic teaching on matters of war.
“When the pope says that God is never on the side of people who wield the sword, there is more than a 1,000-year tradition of just war theory,” Vance remarked at an event. “I think it’s very, very important for the pope to be careful when he talks about matters of theology.”