‘JD Vance Is Wrong’: Colbert PRAISES New Pope Leo After DEVASTATING Tweet That HUMILIATED Trump’s VP Pick on Live TV

Stephen Colbert may have just found his favorite pope—and it only took one tweet.

On a recent episode of The Late Show, the longtime host and outspoken Catholic didn’t hold back his admiration for the newly elected Pope Leo XIV.

What won him over? A blistering post on X (formerly Twitter) where the American pontiff eviscerated Vice President JD Vance over his so-called “Christian” justification of Donald Trump’s isolationist “America First” rhetoric.

Back in February, when Pope Leo was still known as Cardinal Robert Prevost, he responded to Vance’s Fox News interview where the MAGA-aligned VP tried to use a theological concept—“ordo amoris”—to justify prioritizing Americans over the rest of humanity.

“You love your family, and then you love your neighbor, and then your country, and then maybe other people,” Vance explained, in a hierarchy that many theologians immediately called un-Christian.

Pope Leo’s response was swift and clear:
“JD Vance is wrong.

Jesus doesn’t ask us to rank our love for others.”

Colbert didn’t just agree—he turned it into primetime gold.

“Holy Father,” he said with mock reverence, “you had me at ‘JD Vance is wrong.’” The Late Show audience erupted in applause, with cheers so loud they nearly drowned out Colbert’s final jab.

But the tweet wasn’t just a zinger—it linked to a Cuban-American author’s op-ed dismantling Vance’s misuse of scripture, earning Leo XIV instant street cred with both theologians and progressives.

The Pope’s bold social media activity is already being parsed for political meaning, especially as commentators speculate whether he will extend the progressive legacy of Pope Francis, who passed away just last month.

This isn’t the first time Pope Leo has clashed—digitally or theologically—with Trump-world figures.

Just days after ascending to the papacy, the American-born pontiff retweeted a chilling article from Bishop Evelio Menjivar of D.C., drawing a fiery comparison between Trump’s brutal immigration policies and the assassination of Archbishop Óscar Romero—a beloved martyr murdered by El Salvador’s right-wing death squads in 1980.

The post, shared by Catholic journalist Rocco Palmo, didn’t mince words.

It labeled recent U.S.immigration actions as “injustice and infamies” and slammed both Trump and El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele for mocking the tragic deportation case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia—who was wrongly deported despite the administration’s full knowledge of the mistake.

If Trump and Vance thought the Vatican would be neutral ground, Pope Leo’s timeline says otherwise.

This isn’t Leo’s first rodeo in speaking truth to power.

In the wake of George Floyd’s murder in 2020, he publicly demanded the Church speak up: “We need to hear more from leaders in the Church, to reject racism and seek justice.” And way back in 2017, he stood with DACA recipients and the Dreamers, retweeting Sister Helen Prejean’s message: “I stand with the #Dreamers and all people who are working toward an immigration system that is fair, just, and moral.”

So when Trump posted an AI-generated image of himself dressed as the Pope over the weekend—yes, that actually happened—Colbert took it personally.

“As a Catholic,” Colbert deadpanned, “Let me just say, in the words of Saint Peter: Go f*** yourself.”

If Pope Francis was the Church’s diplomat, Leo XIV is shaping up to be its truth-teller.

And with a Twitter/X feed full of righteous indignation and pointed theology, he’s already shaking the foundations of both the Vatican and the White House.

As for Colbert, his verdict is in: “Pope Leo XIV speaks the language of love—and shade.”

And if the MAGA world thought it could co-opt the Church, it might be time to repent.

The new Holy Father doesn’t play by the old rules.