If Vice President JD Vance hoped that getting a new pope would make everyone forget that the last one died shortly after their meeting, he is in for a grave disappointment.
With the great eye of social media turned to the Vatican as a new pope was selected from the conclave, once the choice was announced it took very little time for the new pope's old tweets to resurface. Particularly because the tweets weren't that old.
Cardinal Robert Prevost, who has taken the name Pope Leo XIV, has posted just five times this year, but directly mentions Vance twice. On February 3, he shared an article titled, "JD Vance is wrong: Jesus doesn't ask us to rank our love for others."
Critics of Vance have gleefully shared the revelation, and taken the opportunity to revive the taunts and memes accusing Vance of "killing the pope."
Vance, who converted to Catholicism in 2019, congratulated Pope Leo XIV on X anyway, and was met with an onslaught of mockery.
Congratulations to Leo XIV, the first American Pope, on his election! I'm sure millions of American Catholics and other Christians will pray for his successful work leading the Church. May God bless him!
— JD Vance (@JDVance) May 8, 2025
"He hates you lol," a top-liked comment states, followed by screenshots of Prevost's critical post, and pleas to spare the new Pope.
Comments including "Try not to kill this one JD," and "Don't kill this one too," rolled in.
"Hopefully you don't meet the man in person. We saw how that turned out the last time," an X user jeered. "Stay away! Don't you go near! Don't touch!" another commanded.
jd vance killed pope francis only for the new pope to hate him even more pic.twitter.com/821yxSrQIZ
— Mason Mennenga (@masonmennenga) May 8, 2025
"Absolute unreal plot twist," journalist Aaron Rupar wrote.
The Vatican should place you on a No Trespass list.
— Milenka~ (@MilenaAmit) May 8, 2025
Amidst the jabs, others defended Vance, taking issue with "another woke pope." Some supporters even joined in on the death curse joke, though from another angle. "You guys should meet up," was among comments encouraging Vance to pay him a visit.
Vance has not responded to the stir on social media.
Given the new pope's criticism of the Trump administration's anti-immigration polices, the chronically online would be justified in preparing their popcorn and Kermit-tea-drinking memes in anticipation of future interactions between the Vatican and Trump's White House.
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