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’.
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 comments that ‘God is never on the side of those who wield the sword.’
‘Was God on the side of the Americans who liberated France from the Nazis? Was God on the side of the Americans who liberated Holocaust camps?,’ questioned Vance.
‘I certainly think the answer is yes,’ he added, before an audience member is heard yelling: ‘Jesus doesn’t support genocide.’
He continued after the interruption: ‘I think it is very important for the Pope to be careful when he talks about matters of theology.
‘If you’re going to opine on matters of theology, you’ve got to be careful, you’ve got to make sure it’s anchored in the truth…it’s certainly something I would expect from the clergy.’
The heckler continued shouting to which Vance replied: ‘Hey, random dude screaming, I told you I’d respond to your point, I just want to respond to this question first.’
The Vice President was speaking at an event for Turning Point USA, a conservative non-profit organisation founded by the late activist Charlie Kirk.
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.’
Meanwhile, Chinese President Xi Jinping has warned the world order is ‘crumbling into disarray’ as the US steps up its blockade on the Strait of Hormuz.
In a meeting with Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez in Beijing on Wednesday, he said in ‘today’s world, chaos abounds, and the international order is crumbling into disarray’.
His comments came after the US said it had ‘fully implemented’ a blockade on the strait as it looks to gain control over the crucial waterway.
But Iran claimed a crude oil carrier had passed through ‘without any concealment’.
On Wednesday the Fars state news agency said a supertanker, which the regime claimed is capable of carrying around 2 million barrels of crude oil, sailed through international waters and the strait with its tracking system switched on.
Adm Brad Cooper, the commander of US Central Command previously said: ‘A blockade of Iranian ports has been fully implemented.
‘In less than 36 hours since the blockade was implemented, US forces have completely halted economic trade going into and out of Iran by sea.
It also emerged that Iran reportedly used a Chinese spy satellite it secretly bought in 2024 to target US bases in the current war
Meanwhile, Donald Trump claimed the war in the Middle East is ‘close to over’.
Asked if the conflict was reaching its conclusion, the US President said: ‘I think it’s close to over, yeah. I view it as very close to over.’
