Anonymousabout 3 hours ago
Vice President JD Vance called Pope Leo XIV's statement that he has no interest in debating President Trump a development he is "grateful" for, reframing a week of escalating Vatican-White House tensions as a sign of mutual respect. The exchange caps a months-long diplomatic rift driven by the Iran war, immigration policy, and Trump's personal attacks on the first American pope — a rift that has pushed Catholic approval of Trump below 50% and placed Vance, a Catholic convert promoting a forthcoming faith memoir, in an increasingly untenable position between his president and his Church.