Catholic J.D. Vance Ridiculed for Claiming He Doesn't Know the Vatican's Top Diplomat: 'Pathetic Loser'

Vice President J.D. Vance, an allegedly devout Catholic, was ridiculed online after an embarrassing blunder in which he initially claimed he did not know Cardinal Christophe Pierre, the Vatican’s top diplomat to the United States.

The incident occurred during a press conference in Budapest, Hungary, on Wednesday, April 8, where Vance was spending taxpayer money campaigning for Hungarian dictator Viktor Orbán.

Reporters asked Vance about The Free Press report alleging that top Pentagon officials summoned Cardinal Pierre to a meeting in January to deliver a "bitter lecture.”

The report claimed officials told the Cardinal that the U.S. military "can do whatever it wants" and that Pope Leo XIV (the first American-born Pope and a vocal critic of President Donald Trump and his administration) should "take its side" regarding U.S. military tactics.

Despite being a high-profile Catholic convert who has written extensively about his faith, Vance responded to the name by asking, "Brought who?" and then stated, "With no disrespect to the cardinal, I don’t know who Cardinal Christophe Pierre is.”

After the reporter clarified that Pierre was the Apostolic Nuncio (Vatican Ambassador) to the U.S., Vance corrected himself, saying, "Oh, okay, okay, I do. I’ve met him before. I just didn't remember the name.”

“Sorry. I just didn’t remember the name. I’ve never seen this reporting. I’d like to actually talk to Cardinal Christoph Pierre and, frankly, to our people to figure out what actually happened,” he sputtered. “I think it’s always a bad idea to offer an opinion on stories that are unconfirmed and uncorroborated, so I’m not going to do that.”

Critics and social media users mocked the veep, calling him a “fake Catholic,” and “pathetic loser,” while questioning how a "devout Catholic" and top government official could be unfamiliar with the Holy See's primary representative in Washington, D.C.

“He should be excommunicated,” blasted one online critic.

The underlying report from The Free Press suggested a growing rift between the Trump administration and the Vatican, specifically over the administration's stance on Iran and immigration.

A Pentagon spokesperson later described the report of the meeting's hostile tone as "highly exaggerated and distorted.”

This latest blunder comes as Vance has recently faced widespread mockery on social media and from political critics over the cover of his upcoming memoir, Communion: Finding My Way Back to Faith.

The controversy centers on the fact that while the book chronicles Vance’s personal conversion to Catholicism in 2019, the church featured on the front cover is actually Mount Zion United Methodist Church in Elk Creek, Va.

Some critics and religious commentators have used the mix-up to question the authenticity of Vance's faith, with the National Catholic Reporter even calling his Catholicism a "political prop.”

Vance has also faced scrutiny from the late Pope Francis and Pope Leo XIV over his political stances, particularly on immigration.