Just days into his election as the first pope from America, Leo XIV’s history on social media is under fresh scrutiny. Before rising to the papacy, then-Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost had posted articles disparaging US President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance, and especially their immigration and foreign aid stance, generating debate about the intermingling of politics and religion.
Digital Trail of Doctrinal Disagreements
It was in February that the Cardinal Prevost reposted a post on X (formerly Twitter) that opposed JD Vance’s application of Catholic doctrine to justify ending foreign aid. The reposted title was “JD Vance is wrong: Jesus doesn’t ask us to rank our love for others,” along with a link to an article by the National Catholic Reporter. It has been confirmed by the Vatican that the social media account of Prevost is.
Vance, who had converted to being a Catholic since 2019, had referred to Thomas Aquinas’s teaching of ordo amoris or “order of love” as the rationale behind the cuts criticized as unjust. But in writing soon after that “true ordo amoris” entailed constructing “a fraternity open to all, without exception,” it was the late Pope Francis himself.
Just days following the post on foreign aid, Prevost posted another article connecting Francis’s criticism of Trump’s mass deportations to Vance’s theological arguments. The then-future pontiff’s position was consistent with the Church’s continued message of compassion and inclusivity.
In his last posting before he became pope, Prevost re-posted a condemnation of the error that sent a migrant to El Salvador under the Trump administration. The posting emphasized the “suffering” that was taken and asked, “Is your conscience not disturbed?”
Washington Keeps Silence on Papal Critique
Neither Trump nor Vance referred to Pope Leo XIV’s earlier comments while congratulating him. Vance, who met Pope Francis just hours before his death on Easter Sunday, posted: “May God bless him! I’m sure millions of American Catholics and other Christians will pray for his successful work leading the Church.”
Trump, on his part, described Leo XIV’s election as “a great honor for our country” while earlier having posted an AI-created photo of himself in papal attire.
The advent of Pope Leo XIV’s opinions has heralded the potential for a more vocal Vatican leadership on issues that overlap faith, politics, and humanitarian causes. With tensions over migration and doctrine persisting worldwide, the Pope’s earlier online track record can be used as a lens to understand his future agenda.
