Pope Leo was peppered with questions as he moved through the crowd at the Vatican on Monday, during his first international press conference.
He spoke of the importance of free speech and a free press and thanked reporters for covering the papal election. The pontiff also emphasized the significance of “being an informed society in order to make good choices and decisions regarding international policy,” according to NewsNation.
At one point, NewsNation correspondent Robert Sherman asked the Pope Leo if he had “any message” to give the US to which the pontiff replied, “Many.”
He then added: “God bless you all.”
The short answer, which many saw as a menacing message from the Pope to the US, caused quite a stir and vent viral in the blink of an eye.
Plenty of people interpreted it as a dig at the US president whom Pope Leo criticized on the social media as Cardinal Robert Prevost.
In 2015, when Trump announced he was running for president and promised to “build a wall,” the pontiff retweeted an op-ed titled “Why Donald Trump’s anti-immigrant rhetoric is so problematic.”
Pope Leo also criticized Vance for an interview he gave about Christianity on Fox News.
“JD Vance is wrong,” he said. “Jesus doesn’t ask us to rank our love for others.”
Discussing concerns over the Trump administration’s handling of immigration, Vance referenced a Christian tenet “that you love your family and then you love your neighbor, and then you love your community, and then you love your fellow citizens, and then after that, prioritize the rest of the world.”
After receiving criticism on his views, Vance took to the social media to defend himself, writing, “Just google ‘ordo amoris.’ Aside from that, the idea that there isn’t a hierarchy of obligations violates basic common sense.”
Ten days later, Pope Leo, as Cardinal Robert Prevost, shared another piece from a Jesuit publication, titled, “Pope Francis’ letter, JD Vance’s ‘ordo amoris’ and what the Gospel asks of all of us on immigration.”
According to the Daily Mail, referring to Pope Leo’s message to the US, some questioned whether he may have misheard the reporter over “any blessings for the United States,” saying it “makes more sense” given that he told the nation “God bless you all.”
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