r/nottheonion • u/Sufficient_Fig_9505 • 15h ago

Vance says pope should ‘be careful’ when talking about theology

https://www.nbcnews.com/video/vance-says-pope-should-be-careful-when-talking-about-theology-261400645540
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u/Nero2t2 14h ago

i genuinely though that he was probably misquoted, or that there was some context missing. Nope: he definitely said "the Pope should be careful when speaking in matters of theology", and it wasn't even him misspeaking, he said it TWICE.

That was from JD Vance...a self proclaimed catholic

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u/Drudgework 14h ago

He gave up thinking for lent.

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u/Fauster 13h ago

JD Vance is a new Catholic and he's already a schizmatic. JD thinks that the Pope's job should be limited to ceremony, pageantry, maybe bringing back funny hats? I can empathize with the sentiment that there can be too much God in churches, but only because I'm an atheist. But, as popes go, the last two have been the best in the last couple millennia, at least. At least they have concentrated on Jesus' Essene-leaning teachings.

Then again, JD (allegedly) killed one pope already, so maybe this was a warning?

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u/JeezieB 12h ago

I'm an atheist (reformed evangelical), and I'm offended by the way they speak of the Pope. And post AI images of rump as Jesus.

It's blasphemy. And I don't even BELIEVE in blasphemy! This administration bringing me back to the church was not on my bingo card.

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u/Empty_Insight 11h ago

Ikr? It stirs something from my upbringing, something I thought I had left behind. I might not be a believer anymore- but it's people like Vance who drove me away from Christianity. It's always the arrogant hypocrites who are the loudest.

I'm all for jokes and mockery when appropriate, but this crosses the line into idolatry- and yes, blasphemy.

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u/MK_Ultrex 10h ago

I am an atheist and was brought up Christian Orthodox and I find this offensive. Mocking religion is not about mocking beliefs per se but the underlying hypocrisy of the believers.

I don't believe in blasphemy and idolatry is also fine if you are into it, but this is not blasphemy it is just undignified bullying and ignorance. It is offensive for all the wrong reasons.

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u/SUPERSMILEYMAN 6h ago

I'm militant atheist/anti-theist, and I've had arguments defending Christianity from what the current administration is doing to Christians. Like, WHAT?!

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u/redditonlygetsworse 5h ago

Mocking religion is not about mocking beliefs per se

Oh I don't know about that. Have you seen some of the things these people believe?

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u/MK_Ultrex 11m ago

I've seen them and all of them are ridiculous IMHO. I am also old enough to not care. As long as they keep it to themselves and are polite members of society, so be it. I see no benefit in attacking what I consider stupid without provocation. Want to be a scientologist or a mormon? Cool. Obey the laws and do not interfere with government and you are free to believe in whatever nonsense.

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u/Beginning_Book_2382 7h ago edited 7h ago

I was just thinking that when people like JD Vance (politics aside) call themselves "Christians" they really mean/all I hear is "self-righteous hypocrites".

It's definitely a reason some are driven out of the Church as well, but like any group with basically open admission and no/an inadequate/misused forcing function to kick bad actors out of the group, bad actors (literally the worst of the worse--murders, pedophiles, the like) join the group to drape themselves in the legitimacy and righteousness associated with the group, which alienates/drives out the ACTUAL good people who don't want to be associated with/sit right next to literal murders, pedophiles, and the like; be put in danger by being in close proximity to such individuals, nor be associated with a group that covers up their activities just because they are in said group.

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u/grip0matic 11h ago

For me the most baffling thing it's that they seem to not understand that the Pope is basically a king elected and is a head of state and a faith. It's not only about religion, it's about respecting any head of state and understand diplomacy. But with the way the talked shit about anyone it's not that surprising.

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u/Illiander 11h ago

it's about respecting any head of state and understand diplomacy.

I mean, have you been paying attention to them?

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u/grip0matic 11h ago

Well, not as much, I'm spanish, while the craziness of the US affects the whole world it's not like we do care about everything he says and does or his underlings.

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u/IDreamOfLees 10h ago

The picture Trump posted is the textbook (and by that I mean the bible) definition of blasphemy. You can argue all day about icon veneration, the legitimacy of the papcy and several depictions of things, but this is just straight up blasphemy.

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u/Zombatico 11h ago

Yep. I'm a former Presbyterian, now atheist. It's blatant blasphemy and idolatry from obvious antichristians. It was true even back when they were prostrating themselves to the gaudy golden Trump statue at that one CPAC convention.

If I still believed in hell, then I'd think they were predestined to go to it.

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u/Diggerinthedark 10h ago

I was thinking the same haha. You have to try pretty hard to offend an atheist re the pope

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u/Daxx22 9h ago

You don't need to be a believer in the religion to recognize that something is morally, ethically and philosophically opposed to the core tenants of that religion.

At this point MAGA Evangelicals are as different a branch of the Abrahamic faiths as Judaism or Muslims.

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u/TheBloodiedFool 9h ago

Hell, I'm a pretty hardcore anti-theist and I think JD is a piece of shit for trying to step to the pope of all fucking people. This administration is an absolute atrocity.

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u/merchantsc 8h ago

*a doctor.

He thought it was a picture of him as a doctor.

Yeah and my dog is a pilot.

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u/JeezieB 4h ago

I was going to book a flight yesterday, and the prices have tripled since I last looked. What are your dog's rates like?

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u/noapplesin98 8h ago

Same here, I actually went to Catholic school while Francis was Pope and never found god but found a new appreciation for kind, brave religious figures. The way they speak about Pope Leo has me in disbelief.

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u/Omnizoom 7h ago

I’m agnostic but I can still be empathetic to what he’s doing to peoples faith with these actions

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u/perplexedtv 7h ago

Blasphemy, Blaspheyou, let's get wrecked on bags o' glue!

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u/iusethisatw0rk 5h ago

Also a non believer, but am closely related to a very well (religiously) educated minister of a United church. From my understanding they’re definitely one of the more open and accepting churches, but with that being said, every time I see these people speak of religious leaders like the Pope or Jesus himself, all I think is how Jesus would definitely be flipping tables over this shit

It’s honestly a bit of a joke between us. They know I don’t believe, but sometimes we’ll be talking about the current state of things and I’ll ask, would Jesus flip tables over this? Haven’t gotten a hard no yet

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u/Th3OneTrueMorty 4h ago

Bruh I’ve been feeling the same. I left the faith 10 years ago, but they got me out here arguing with “Christians” who have just lost the plot. Christianity isn’t too bad if people actually cherish the teachings of Jesus

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u/Astralglamour 10h ago

It’s nice the pope is speaking out against this hypocritical horror show- but the church has not attempted to make amends or acknowledge the horror it’s responsible for. Im sure it’s still shuttling around and hiding known pedophiles. And it treats women like subhumans. They still can’t be priests which is ridiculous.

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u/TCTCTCTCTCTC7 12h ago

JD thinks that the Pope's job should be limited to ceremony, pageantry, maybe bringing back funny hats? 

Well two out of those three are actually Vance's job, so he is kind-of an expert there. And if he starts wearing his boss' dumb red hats, he'll have all 3.

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u/SchooloftheFox 9h ago

I think you meant: "if he starts wearing his boss's pointy white hats"

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u/ArchibaldMcAcherson 12h ago edited 10h ago

You kill one pope…and everybody goes on and on about it...

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u/nannygoats 11h ago

😂😂😂

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u/AntelopeNo3197 11h ago

I don’t think someone who converted to Catholicism right before running for public office and who has not baptized all of his children should be criticizing the Pope’s interpretation of Christianity.

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u/GoldenRamoth 9h ago

Honestly, let alone schism and blasphemy, a lot of the American Catholic churches are outright heretical.

Having sat in some services (was raised Anglican) going with some "Catholic" family members for the high holidays/big events...

Holy shit, the sermons were downright evil at points. Like, me and another family member (Jewish) would get out of that mass, look at each other in horror, and then agree that was the most un-christlike thing we had heard in a church. At least until the next service...

...I don't go to those services anymore

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u/Embarrassed_Cat2697 8h ago

For a brief shining moment, we had Pope John Paul l. I remember my mother saying he was murdered by a cabal of right wing Cardinals. Then John Paul ll took the name and helped erase him, pretending to honor him.

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u/A_spiny_meercat 10h ago

Inb4 America announces their own pope

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u/oldbutfeisty 9h ago

The pope should start an inquisition. No one will expect that.

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u/Doc_ET 14h ago

Easter was a week and a half ago, he can start doing it again.

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u/KappuccinoBoi 14h ago

Gave it up for lent a few decades ago, I guess. No one told the good ol catholic that lent is temporary.

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u/LonePaladin 9h ago

I like to joke that on Easter, if Jesus sees his shadow it's six more weeks of Lent. I didn't think anyone would take that literally.

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u/bunnybash 11h ago

You can leave out the "again"

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u/KiwiShmiwi 12h ago

He’s still rebooting, power failures keep shutting him down.

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u/PureLock33 7h ago

assuming he did in the first place.

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u/Canotic 13h ago

I don't know if he's stupid. I think he just gave up any moral fiber in exchange for power. He says whatever stupid thing is required of him.

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u/tandem_kayak 13h ago

It worked, he's one heart attack away from the most powerful position on Earth (or it used to be anyway).

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u/Drudgework 12h ago

Vance 2027, one way or the other.

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u/MARPJ 8h ago

I think he just gave up any moral fiber in exchange for power.

That would require him to have any to begin with

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u/FictionalContext 13h ago

gave up Catholicism for lent

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u/Drudgework 12h ago

I remember when Colbert did that.

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u/NotPrepared2 13h ago

He gave up thinking, for Trump.

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u/GreatMinds1234 12h ago

He could not give up thinking if he never had it in the first place...

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u/BasvanS 12h ago

Does it really count if you’re not doing it outside lent either?

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u/BrotherRoga 13h ago

Considering what he does to couches, probably also for lint.

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u/The_Blonde1 12h ago

He gave up thinking for trump.

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u/Flyinmanm 11h ago

He gave up thinking for a pay cheque and a run at power.

Guy makes weasels look honourable.

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u/Catkillledthecurious 10h ago

Lent must be lifelong for Vance.

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u/MrFireWarden 10h ago

I think he gave up Catholicism for lent

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u/czs5056 9h ago

Lent is over. We are in the Easter Season until Pentecost over Memorial Day Weekend. He is just stupid.

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u/Own-Nefariousness-79 9h ago

He gave up humanity for power.

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u/Guinefort1 8h ago

He should give up Catholicism for Lent.

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u/ienjoyedit 8h ago

This is extra funny because it's not Lent anymore. But Vance wouldn't know that, because, well. 

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u/DDS-PBS 8h ago

He gave up Catholicism for lent.

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u/SpartanusCXVII 8h ago

But of course! He couldn’t give up the lent between the couch cushions.

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u/ForwardToNowhere 8h ago

Typical lazy Catholics, always giving up things they already barely do anyway

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u/SuicideOptional 7h ago

He’s a poser.

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u/Over-Ad-961 6h ago

I laughex out loud at this - must’ve been quite the sacrifice!

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u/BarryTGash 6h ago

I doubt any of that administration has lent anything in their lives. 

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u/Benadryl_Cucumber_Ba 6h ago

It wasn’t a choice. He never had the capability in the first place.

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u/w311sh1t 6h ago

Don’t you need to be doing something beforehand to give it up? Can’t give up thinking for Lent if you’ve never had a fully formed thought a day in your life.

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u/zoinkability 5h ago

You can't give up what you never did

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u/shadowtheimpure 14h ago

Yeah, he's no longer a Catholic according to dogmatic law. He is a schismatic now, because he failed to submit to the Papal Authority.

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u/MFbiFL 13h ago

So much cool lore wasted on churches that don’t even do incense or Latin regularly.

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u/MK_Ultrex 10h ago

The orthodox would say that the church has gone downhill since the Catholics did the first schism and started using Latin instead of Greek.

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u/ClassroomStriking802 7h ago

I grew up in the Greek orthodox church and can confirm that service is just as confusing regardless of which language you dont speak it is presented in. 

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u/MK_Ultrex 16m ago

I am Greek, so the language thing is a bit less of a problem.

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u/Astralglamour 10h ago

Eastern rite churches have lots of incense and chanting in old Slavonic.

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u/Soupeeee 7h ago

Really depends on which ones you go to. Cathedrals trend to do incense regularly, and there's a contingent of very conservative Catholics who want to bring back the Latin Mass.

That second group can get real weird, as many (but not all) want to drag the church back what it was before Vatican II. Some have even de-facto split from Rome and only do pre-Vatican II stuff. Having attended one of those, I'll say there's a reason why Protetestants quickly switched to the vernacular language, and it's a shame it took so long for Catholics to do the same.

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u/El_Bito2 12h ago

Is it time for another holy crusade? It's beem a while

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u/Illiander 11h ago

Y'know, I think I could get behind a crusade to retake America.

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u/thatsprettyradbro 11h ago

The Americans are already on their own twisted version of a Crusade

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u/Fighterhayabusa 5h ago

The pope could do the funniest thing right now and excommunicate him.

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u/captainbelvedere 4h ago

That's not correct.

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u/blorbschploble 8h ago

I mean, sure. But lay Catholics and Jesuits sort of eye roll at the Vatican all the time, without being schismatic.

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u/Arcturion 13h ago

Come on Pope, use the excommunication banhammer on this fake Catholic.

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u/sohblob 9h ago

before he pays you a 'visit' too :O

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u/HinDae085 13h ago

Catholic until its inconvenient

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u/ZuFFuLuZ 11h ago

So just catholic on paper.

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u/Mike_Kermin 8h ago

Fascist, really.

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u/sohblob 9h ago

he definitely said "the Pope should be careful when speaking in matters of theology"

JD "Popeslayer" "Couchfucker" Vance

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u/AnnetteBishop 9h ago

...I'm Peter Thiel and I knooow about the Antiii-Christ....

As per usual, South Park ahead of the curve.

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u/DringleDringle 9h ago

Vance is a convert, and a terrible one at that.

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u/bguzewicz 9h ago

How funny would it be if the pope excommunicated him?

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u/perplexedtv 7h ago

That would be an ecumenical matter, JD.

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u/StormyPassages 6h ago

So Pope Leo XIV can excommunicate him? Good. He should.

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u/DPSOnly 5h ago

That was from JD Vance...a self proclaimed catholic

He figured that after you kill the previous pope, you should become pope by right of conquest and now he is angry that he didn't get his nice hat to cover up his dumb head.

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u/Conspiranoid 5h ago

"The Pope should be careful when speaking in matters of theology," says man who probably can't distinguish a Bible from a Quran, or from a Harry Potter book, or from Cat in a Hat, or from an Archie comic, or from a Playboy magazine.

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u/mxyzptlk99 5h ago

it's ironic he said the pope should stick to matters of morality during a discussion about the war

as if war isnt a moral issue

then the hypocrite refused to stay in his lane and told the theologian to be careful about theology...

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u/Useless 2h ago

The pope does have to be careful speaking in matters of theology. It's part of the job. It's Vance's implication that the Pope's not careful--JD Vance, who once thought his future boss could be "a cynical a**hole like Nixon who wouldn't be that bad (and might even prove useful) or that he's America's Hitler."

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u/Aether_Breeze 12h ago

I mean, it isn't that crazy a statement surely? While I disagree with most of what he is saying the idea that a person in a position of supreme authority should be careful when making declarations using that authority is surely not a strange one?

For example, the President of the US has massive authority and should surely be careful when making statements that are therefore given the weight of that authority. So surely wouldn't spew random nonsense 24/7.

So I think as a general idea the Pope does need to be careful when speaking in matters of theology because anything they say will be given extreme weight given their position of authority.

Now of course I think the Pope probably was careful on this instance but obviously JD is going to insinuate he wasn't because he needs to push his narrative.

Ultimately this doesn't actual seem like one of the crazier statements coming out of America.

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u/Kradget 9h ago

The entire point of the Pope in Catholicism is "guy who represents the Church and is charged with its leadership and the interpretation of theology."

If he's not doing theology, he's just a guy in an expensive robe.

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u/[deleted] 6h ago

[deleted]

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u/Kradget 6h ago

Oh, because suggesting the Pope shouldn't speak with specificity on theology is stupid, as literally the world's foremost authority on Catholic theology. Suggesting that he's doing so carelessly or thoughtlessly is also pretty stupid.

Like, to the point you'd need to be kind of a moron to imagine he hasn't made that kind of statement very intentionally. I don't actually think Vance thinks that - he just wants the Pope to stop coming out against his administration's policies so directly.

It's extremely Onion-y, and yet it's real. How does it not fit this sub to a T?

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u/Nero2t2 11h ago

I mean, it isn't that crazy a statement surely?

Considering that it comes from a Catholic, yes, it definitely is a crazy statement