Vice President JD Vance said Tuesday during a Turning Point USA event that Pope Leo XIV needs “to be careful” when discussing “matters of theology.”

Vance said of the pope, who is embarking on an ongoing visit to four countries across Africa: “So No. 1, when the pope says that God is never on the side of those who wield the sword, there is … more than a 1,000-year tradition of ‘Just War Theory,’ OK? Now, we can of course have disagreements about whether this or that conflict is just.”

He continued, “But I think that it’s important, in the same way that it’s important for the vice president of the United States to be careful when I talk about matters of public policy, I think it’s very, very important for the pope to be careful when he talks about matters of theology.”

Vance converted to Catholicism in 2019 and was previously an Episcopalian.

His advice to the world’s foremost religious leader came after President Donald Trump on Sunday criticized Pope Leo and his calls for peace amid the Iran war, and after he shared an image deemed blasphemous by both Democrats and Republicans.

“I think one of the issues here is that if you’re going to opine on matters of theology, you’ve got to be careful,” Vance said about the head of the Catholic Church. “You’ve got to make sure it’s anchored in the truth. And that’s one of the things that I try to do.”

He added that the clergy, “whether they’re Catholic or Protestant,” should do the same.

Vance seemed to ingratiate himself with MAGA voters after his 2022 Senate campaign, when a private Facebook message from 2016 came to light in which he said Trump could become “America’s Hitler” and called him “a cynical asshole.”

Vance’s conversion to Catholicism has resulted in similarly awkward moments, as the church featured on the cover of his upcoming book, “Communion: Finding My Way Back to Faith,” isn’t actually Catholic — but a United Methodist house of worship.

Trump received widespread criticism for his screed against the pope, but doubled down with an artificial intelligence-generated image portraying him as a Christ-like figure.

Vance was also heckled over U.S. support for Israel during the Turning Point event, while his remarks about the pope have led to brutal reactions on social media.

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