Fact Check: Did Pope Leo really say JD Vance 'flip-flops faster than pages in the Bible'?
VATICAN CITY, ROME: Pope Francis' successor, Robert Francis Prevost, who has taken on the papal name Pope Leo, has become the first American-born pope. Since his appointment, some of his old social media posts criticizing the Donald Trump administration and Vice President JD Vance have resurfaced.
Recently, a video claiming that Pope Leo said Vance "flip-flops faster than pages in the Bible" has been making the rounds on social media. But is there any truth to this? Let us find out below.
Claim: Pope Leo says JD Vance 'flip-flops faster than pages in the Bible'
In May, a video that showed Pope Leo allegedly criticizing JD Vance went viral on social media. "You flip-flop faster than pages in the Bible," he can be heard saying.
In the clip, the Pope seemed to deliver a monologue accusing Vance of using religion for political gain and contradicting Christian values.
The transcript of the video read, "Vance, you flip-flop faster than pages in the Bible. You talk a big game about Christian values, but you support closing the border, deporting refugees, separating immigrant families, even building detention camps. You treat faith like a political tool."
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"One day you use it to oppose same-sex marriage, the next you use it to justify expansionism. On Sunday you're on your knees in church, on Monday you're backing Trump's America First agenda. In the name of traditional family you support cutting aid for the poor, in the name of border security you support violent enforcement against the asylum-seeker," it further added.
According to the video, Pope Leo said, "At the end of the day, you're not defending the faith, you're decorating your campaign with it. You've turned religion into a factory for manufacturing votes. Vance, if you're willing to repent, the church doors are still open."
The viral clip was shared across Threads, TikTok, Facebook, and Instagram.
Fact-check: No, Pope Leo did not make such a statement about JD Vance
The claims made in the video are false as Pope Leo never made the said remarks about VP JD Vance, according to fact-checking outlet Snopes.
Moreover, results on search engines such as Google and Bing did not show any authentic result of the pope making any such remark.
Furthermore, the quote did not appear on the Vatican's official press websites or in any public remarks attributed to Pope Leo by reputable news organizations, per the fact-checking outlet.
The clip that has gone viral online is a digitally fabricated content created using artificial intelligence (AI), Snopes reported. It was based on real footage from a 2023 interview conducted before the pontiff became pope, and was altered to include false remarks.
A watermark on the video and descriptions in social media posts reposting it showed that the original creator was TikTok user @frv13172kk1.
Moreover, the TikTok account has posted several similar videos, many of which were labeled as AI-generated.
The deepfake video originated from a Catholic News Service YouTube video titled "Pope Leo on inclusion in the church", which was posted in early May 2025.
JD Vance discussed 'dark and negative' dating apps with Pope Leo
JD Vance recently revealed that during his first private conversation with Pope Leo, the two discussed several crucial issues, including immigration, world peace, and online dating.
Vance met Pope Leo on Monday, May 19, a day after he attended his inaugural mass in Rome, where they briefly met and shook hands, according to The Daily Beast.
According to the Catholic News Agency, Vance and Leo had a one-on-one discussion before Secretary of State Marco Rubio joined the 45-minute audience.
After the meeting, Vance sat down for a podcast interview with The New York Times’ Ross Douthat, where he revealed what was discussed during his meeting with Pope Leo.
The vice president said that the two typically talked about "issues the Vatican cares a lot about," such as migration and the conflicts in Gaza and Ukraine.
The VP then claimed that he and the Pope had also discussed online dating and AI’s potential to upend the labor market, per the outlet.
He said, "The [AI] trend that I’m most worried about, there are a lot of them, and I actually, I don’t want to give too many details, but I talked to the Holy Father about this today."
"If you look at basic dating behavior among young people—and I think a lot of this is that the dating apps are probably more destructive than we fully appreciate," Vance added.
