“Morning Joe” host Joe Scarborough laid into Vice President JD Vance Wednesday morning for saying that he believes the Pope should be “careful” when talking publicly about public policy and theology, remarking, “People will look back one day and laugh.”
“What are you? A king in medieval Europe warning the Pope not to talk about the Bible? That’s what you just said. You know how stupid you sound, right?” Scarborough said, kicking off a heated rant in response to Vance’s comments. “You know how stupid you sound when you, new to the Catholic Church, are lecturing, Mr. Vice President, the pontiff on theology and telling him he should not quote the red letters?”
“People will look back one day and laugh when they have the safety of distance that you actually have a vice president sitting on stage warning the Pope, God’s representative here on Earth for the Catholic Church, what he can and cannot say about theology,” Scarborough added, calling Vance’s comments “utterly bizarre.”
“Morning Joe” co-anchor Jonathan Lemire chimed in near the end of the segment, wryly remarking, “There’s a short list of people who probably can weigh in on matters of theology. I think the Pope [is] probably on that list. That’s just my guess.” You can watch the full “Morning Joe” segment yourself below.
Scarborough additionally defended the Pope for urging for peace and called out Republicans who have criticized the religious representative for commenting on the Iran War but not for other political topics.
“His concern is not geopolitics. His concern is not the fighting. His concern has to do with peace. He is concerned with the teachings of Jesus Christ,” Scarborough noted, adding, “I never hear those warnings when he’s talking about abortion. I never hear those warnings when he’s talking about traditional marriage. I don’t hear those warnings when those warnings align with his political views.”
“But there’s a war that, let us just say, started with the killing of over 150 young girls at a school that the United States lied about initially … Is the Pope going to get involved in that? Is the Pope going to be concerned about that?” Scarborough mused. “Does the Pope think that Jesus Christ cares whether it’s Americans or Iranians or people from other countries who are winning or losing wars? No.”
“The Pope would probably believe, like another guy from Illinois, Abraham Lincoln, that his concern is not whether we are on God’s side, but whether God is on our side,” Scarborough concluded.
