An Iranian propaganda video attacks President Donald Trump in response to social media posts that criticize the Pope and are deemed insensitive to Christians. Photo: Screenshot.
Vice President J.D. Vance, who converted to Catholicism in August 2019 at the age of 35, criticized Pope Leo’s call for peace between the United States and Iran, another example of the growing religious divide among Christians that Iranian propagandists are trying to exacerbate with a new propaganda video.
Asked about his church’s leadership’s opposition to President Donald Trump’s policies Thursday at an event in Georgia hosted by the conservative activist group Turning Point USA, Vance said: “I think we all need to remember that we each have a role to play. I’m the vice president of the United States. The fundamental way I understand my role is that I’m trying to take lessons from moral truths that are rooted in Christianity and apply them across the complexities of the real world.” scenario. ” Vance thanked the audience, which drew lukewarm applause.
The vice president’s comments came days after President Trump’s social media posts, including a broadside attack on Pope Leo and an AI-generated image depicting the commander-in-chief wearing a flowing white and red robe and placing one glowing hand on the head of a sick man. President Trump later deleted the image after criticism from longtime Christians in the Make America Great Again (MAGA) movement.
Iran capitalized on the social media uproar, and on Wednesday, the Iranian embassy in Tajikistan posted an AI animation that had taken the original image and altered it to mock President Trump.
Another propaganda video released by pro-Iran groups this week responded to President Trump’s social media posts about images of the Pope and Jesus, again deploying an AI-generated animation style that depicts the president and other U.S. officials as Lego characters while the soundtrack delivers rhyming insults.
The Facebook group Occupy Democrats, which has 11 million followers, praised another pro-Iranian propaganda video that began circulating online.
The president’s progressive left opponents may be reveling in Iran’s attacks on President Trump, but the video’s theme of Trump as an enemy of Christianity seeks to exacerbate pre-existing theological conflicts within the MAGA base.
This year, other recent converts to Catholicism, particularly far-right podcaster Candace Owens and her supporter Carrie Prejean Boller, and former Beauty Queen contestant Carrie Prejean Boller, who was expelled from the White House Committee on Religious Freedom for anti-Semitism following questions about Christian Zionism, have also stepped up their opposition to Catholic teachings.
After claiming that Zionism and Catholicism were incompatible, Prejean Boller wrote of X after his removal from the committee: “I continue to oppose Zionist supremacy in America. I am a proud Catholic. I will never be forced to accept Zionism as a fulfillment of Bible prophecy.” [sic]. I’m a free American. Not foreign slaves. ”
In response to her actions, the organization Catholics for Catholics presented Prejean Boller with the “Catholic Champion” award at its gala. The event also featured Owens and Joe Kent, director of the National Counterterrorism Center, who recently resigned. Joe Kent has suggested that Israel controls US foreign policy and may have been involved in the assassination of Turning Point USA Director Charlie Kirk on September 10, 2025.
