VP Vance prays for Pope Francis, turns cheek on political disputes
A convert to Catholicism, Vance steered mostly clear of politics in his speech. He did reminisce on the early days of COVID, when he bought 900 rounds of ammunition and two bags of rice.
WASHINGTON – When COVID-19 was declared a global pandemic in March 2020, Vice President J.D. Vance panicked.
Vance’s second child was just three weeks old, and he worried how bad the pandemic would get. He bought 900 rounds of ammunition at Dick’s Sporting Goods and two bags of rice at Walmart before retreating home.
“All right, we’re just going to wait this thing out,” Vance said Friday to laughter at the 20th National Catholic Prayer Breakfast.
Vance led a prayer at the gathering for Pope Francis, who is suffering from pneumonia. And Vance recalled how the pontiff helped guide him through the pandemic, when Italians were dying en masse on ventilators, despite a political dispute now over immigration.
Turning the other cheek
Vance, a convert to Catholicism, steered mostly clear of politics during his half-hour speech. But he noted the Pope’s criticism of President Donald Trump’s goals to close the border and deport millions of immigrants in the country without legal authorization.
Francis, who has called the policy a "disgrace," wrote an open letter to America’s Catholic bishops not to discriminate against migrants or cause unnecessary suffering.
"What is built on the basis of force, and not on the truth about the equal dignity of every human being, begins badly and will end badly," Francis said.
Vance turned the other cheek.
“We are not called as Christians to obsess or every social-media controversy that implicates the Catholic church, whether it involves the clergy, a bishop or the Holy Father himself,” Vance said. “I think that we should frankly take a page out of the books of our grandparents, who respected our clergy, who looked to them for guidance but didn’t obsess and fight over every single word that came out of their mouth.”
Jesus slept
Vance quoted at length from a Francis homily in March 2020 about a passage from the book of Mark about Jesus being in a boat with his disciples. A storm caught the group off guard by an unexpected and turbulent storm, which left them disoriented and in need of comfort.
Jesus slept for the only time mentioned in the gospels. When he awakens after the storm has passed, the disciples ask why he wasn’t concerned if they perished.
“Indeed, once they call on Him, He saves his disciples from their discouragement,” Vance quoted Francis as saying. “The storm exposes our vulnerability and uncovers our faults and superfluous certainties around which we have constructed our daily schedules, our projects, our habits and priorities.”
“We deprive ourselves of the antibodies we need to confront adversity,” Vance added.
Vance led a prayer for Francis to be restored from sickness.
“I’m not ever going to be perfect,” Vance told the crowd. “I’m not ever going to get everything right. But what I will try to do is be the kind of leader who helps our shared civilization build those true antibodies against adversity.”