US Vice-President JD Vance was heckled mid-speech as he took aim at Pope Leo over his criticism of the war in Iran.
Speaking at an event in Georgia, Vance was interrupted by a shouting member of the audience as he argued the pontiff should ‘be careful when he talks about matters of theology’.
At one point, he even paused to address the disruption, telling the heckler to stop screaming while he finished answering a question.
Vance was speaking at an event for Turning Point USA, a conservative non-profit organisation founded by the late activist Charlie Kirk.
The Republican had been responding to the Pope’s repeated condemnation of the conflict, in which he warned the violence was ‘absurd and inhuman’.
Vance said he respected the Pope’s role as an advocate for peace, but pushed back on his stance, saying God does often support those who ‘wield the sword’.
He cited historic examples including the liberation of France from the Nazis and the freeing of Holocaust victims, arguing that in such cases the answer was ‘yes’.
‘I think it’s very, very important for the Pope to be careful when he talks about matters of theology,’ Vance said.
The Pope, the first American to lead the Catholic Church, had earlier insisted he had ‘no fear’ of the Donald Trump administration and would continue ‘speaking out loudly of the message of the Gospel’.
His remarks have set up an increasingly public clash with Trump allies over the conflict, as divisions deepen over the moral framing of the war.
President Donald Trump lashed out at Pope Leo over his remarks opposing the war in Iran in a late-night post to his Truth Social page on Tuesday.
‘Will someone please tell Pope Leo that Iran has killed at least 42,000 innocent, completely unarmed, protesters in the last two months, and that for Iran to have a Nuclear Bomb is absolutely unacceptable,’ the president wrote.
It comes amid a growing row between Trump and the head of the Catholic Church, who has in recent weeks condemned rhetoric coming out of the White House and called for peace in the Middle East.
On Saturday, the Pope told worshippers at St Peter’s Basilica: ‘Enough of the idolatry of self and money! Enough of the display of power! Enough of war!’
And last week he criticized the President over his threats against the country, when he warned that ‘a whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again’.
The Pope called it a ‘truly unacceptable’ statement.
In a fiery rant on Truth Social on Sunday night, Trump branded the pontiff ‘WEAK on Crime, and terrible for Foreign Policy’.
He then sparked further controversy after posting an AI-generated image seemingly depicting himself as Jesus Christ, triggering backlash among his usual supporters and Catholics on social media.
He later deleted the image, claiming he viewed the picture as him being a Red Cross doctor.
‘Normally I don’t like doing that, but I didn’t want to have anybody be confused. People were confused,’ he added of his removal of the image.
The President claimed in his lengthy post on Sunday that Leo, 70, was only made Pope ‘because he was an American’, adding: ‘If I wasn’t in the White House, Leo wouldn’t be in the Vatican.’
He added: ‘Leo should get his act together as Pope, use Common Sense, stop catering to the Radical Left, and focus on being a Great Pope, not a Politician. It’s hurting him very badly and, more importantly, it’s hurting the Catholic Church!’
In the AI-generated image posted on Truth Social, Trump appears dressed in red and white robes as he cures a man with his healing hand while the American flag waves in the background.
He had earlier told reporters on Sunday at the Joint Base Andrews in Maryland: ‘I’m not a big fan of Pope Leo. He’s a very liberal person, and he’s a man that doesn’t believe in stopping crime.’
Trump also accused the leader of the Catholic Church, which has 1.4billion members, of ‘toying with a country that wants a nuclear weapon’.
He continued his tirade towards the pontiff on Sunday night, writing on Truth Social: ‘I don’t want a Pope who thinks it’s OK for Iran to have a Nuclear Weapon.
‘I don’t want a Pope who thinks it’s terrible that America attacked Venezuela, a Country that was sending massive amounts of Drugs into the United States and, even worse, emptying their prisons, including murderers, drug dealers, and killers, into our Country.’
The Pope said on Monday that he plans to continue speaking out against war, telling Reuters: ‘I don’t want to get into a debate with him.’
Speaking aboard the papal flight to Algiers, where Leo is starting a 10-day tour to four African countries, he added: ‘I don’t think that the message of the Gospel is meant to be abused in the way that some people are doing.
‘I will continue to speak out loudly against war, looking to promote peace, promoting dialog and multilateral relationships among the states to look for just solutions to problems.
‘Too many people are suffering in the world today. Too many innocent people are being killed. And I think someone has to stand up and say there’s a better way.’
