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Pope Leo was critical of Trump and Vance before he became pontiff

The first U.S. Pope has some thoughts on the American President.

According to posts made on the X page of Robert Prevost's account, which was his name before he became the head of the Catholic Church, Pope Leo XIV has a long history of criticizing the policies of President Donald Trump and Vice-President JD Vance.

He reposted in February an article that had the headline "JDVance is wrong: Jesus does not ask us to rate our love for others."

Prevost posted a comment in April when Trump met El Salvador's President Nayib Bukele to discuss the use of a prison, where alleged abuses of human rights took place, to hold suspected gang members who had been flown into the United States. The comment included: "Do not you see the suffering?" Are you not troubled by your conscience?

The account was created in 2011, but it is not known who runs it. We contacted the Vatican, the Roman Catholic Diocese in Chiclayo, Peru, where Prevost lived for many years, as well as the Peruvian Embassy in the Holy See, to verify its authenticity. Its handle, @drprevost, includes messages asking for prayers in the final months of Pope Francis' life.

Pope Leo will follow the path of Francis who was a champion for immigrants and the poor, but also had disagreements with the Trump Administration. Vance, the man who met Francis the day before his death at the Vatican, downplayed the differences that they had after the meeting. But the differences were significant. Francis called Trump's immigration policy a disgrace.

The U.S. President congratulated the newly appointed Catholic leader.

Trump posted on his social media that it was an honor to be the first American pope. What excitement and what an honor for our country! I am looking forward to meeting Pope Leo XIV. "It will be an important moment!"

Vance, who is a Catholic himself, said that he believed millions of American Catholics, as well as other Christians, would pray for Leo’s success.

"May God bless him!" Vance wrote on X.

White House officials didn't offer any further comment. A spokeswoman from Vance referred to his posting on X, when asked about criticisms of Prevost’s account.

Trump and the new pope share some similar policies. Trump and Vance are also against abortion. According to a Facebook post encouraging followers to sign the Catholic Climate Petition, he is in favor of fighting climate change. Trump has removed the United States' participation in the Paris Climate Accord, which fights global climate change. (Reporting and editing by Caitlin Wallis and Daniel Wallis; Additional reporting and editing by Andrea Shalal, Rachael K. Kennedy and Rachael Shalal; Reporting and Editing by Jeff Mason and Jasper Ward)

(source: Reuters)