Pope Leo ‘avoids’ JD Vance after his inaugural mass, Internet says his ‘subtle shade game is next level!'

VATICAN CITY, ITALY: Pope Leo seemingly snubbed Vice President JD Vance after his inaugural mass on Sunday, May 18.

The new pope did a handshake with the US vice president and only spoke with him for a few seconds during the procession line. The 40-year-old politician was present at the Vatican for the event with his wife, second lady Usha Vance.

Pope Leo did not talk to JD Vance for long unlike long conversations with other leaders

But Pope Leo had long private meetings with other global leaders, like Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Peruvian President Dina Ercilia Boluarte Zegarra, as per The Daily Beast.

The apparent rebuff happened after the 69-year-old took a subtle dig at Vance and the Donald Trump government for petrifying migrants and asserting ownership of outside land and resources, including Greenland.

He said, “In this our time, we still see too much discord, too many wounds caused by hatred, violence, prejudice, the fear of difference, and an economic paradigm that exploits the Earth’s resources and marginalizes the poorest.”

Pope Leo criticized JD Vance in past

Pope Leo, who was earlier known as Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost, had previously taken aim at JD Vance.

In the beginning of this year when Vance defended Trump’s crackdowns on immigrants, the head of the Catholic Church shared in a now-deleted post, “JD Vance is wrong: Jesus doesn’t ask us to rank our love for others.”

But during a May interview with Hugh Hewitt, Vance tried to downplay the criticism.

He said, “I try not to play the politicization of the Pope game. I’m sure he’s going to say a lot of things that I love. I’m sure he’ll say some things that I disagree with, but I’ll continue to pray for him and the Church despite it all and through it all, and that’ll be the way that I handle it.”

Late Pope Francis had called out JD Vance

The Marine Corps veteran was also not on good terms with the late Pope Francis.

The 88-year-old, who died in April, had blasted Vance’s justification of the immigration crackdown.

In a letter to Catholic bishops, he said, “The act of deporting people who in many cases have left their own land for reasons of extreme poverty, insecurity, exploitation, persecution or serious deterioration of the environment, damages the dignity of many men and women, and of entire families, and places them in a state of particular vulnerability and defenselessness.”

Netizens say ‘Pope Leo’s subtle shade game is next level’

Meanwhile, people online have reacted to Pope Leo and JD Vance’s meeting.

An X user tweeted, “Why does JD Vance keep meeting with the current Pope…feeling guilty?”

Another X user commented, “That hand move said it all.”

“Guess @VP doesn't have anything else to do but take repeated round trips to the Vatican. The Pope's staff are probably like, what this guy again?” the third user asked.

A person shared, “That hand gesture said it all— ‘Not today, JD!’ Pope Leo XIV’s subtle shade game is next level! 😂🙌”

The second one stated, “Wow, all he did was shook his head. He was very uncomfortable, the pope was extremely uncomfortable and uneasy because he does not like JDs mantra in life, it seems not very loving, compassionate and honest. Nope. Pope sees through fake.”

“The pope is like these two are very disgusting, get them away from me,” a tweet read.

This article contains remarks made on the Internet by individual people and organizations. MEAWW cannot confirm them independently and does not support claims or opinions being made online.