JD Vance has broken his silence on Donald Trump’s now-infamous AI image depicting himself as the Pope.
The vice president, a Catholic, who was one of the last world leaders to meet with Pope Francis before his death on Easter Monday, said that he was “fine with people telling jokes.”
Trump has received criticism both at home and abroad, including from former Italian prime minister Matteo Renzi, as well as the Catholic bishops of New York state, over the image.
In it, an unsmiling Trump is seated in an ornate chair, dressed in white papal vestments and headdress, with his right forefinger raised.
On Saturday, Vance was dragged into the controversy.
“Hey, @JDVance, you fine with this disrespect and mocking of the Holy Father?” conservative commentator Bill Kristol wrote on X.
Vance replied: “As a general rule, I’m fine with people telling jokes and not fine with people starting stupid wars that kill thousands of my countrymen.” The vice president appeared to be referring to the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq, for which Kristol was an advocate.
Others were not as relaxed about the image.
Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni declined to comment on the image during a briefing with journalists about the upcoming conclave.
“This is an image that offends believers, insults institutions and shows that the leader of the global right enjoys being a clown,” former Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi wrote on X. “In the meantime, the American economy risks recession and the dollar loses value.”
In their own post on X, the Catholic bishops of New York state also expressed their displeasure, writing: “There is nothing clever or funny about this image, Mr. President.”
“We just buried our beloved Pope Francis and the cardinals are about to enter a solemn conclave to elect a new successor of St. Peter. Do not mock us.”
Francis’ death was announced on April 21, and a papal conclave to choose his successor will begin on May 7.
Prior to posting the controversial image, Trump joked that he would be his own first choice to become pope, before adding that there was a “very good” candidate in New York, Cardinal Timothy Dolan.
