The new pope shared an article criticising US Vice President JD Vance in a damning X post, only weeks before his selection as the first US leader of the Catholic church this evening.

Pope Leo, AKA Robert Prevost, shared an article in February in which he called Vance "wrong" for his comments made on Christian love, and how ideas such as family is ranked in people's minds. The post on X has today had more than 3.5million views as it was shared by Catholics following his papal election win. In it, Pope Leo simply wrote four words: "JD Vance is wrong" then added: "Jesus doesn't ask us to rank our love for others."

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Several people celebrated the new pope's comments on X, with one saying: "You are going to make a great Pope. Love matters no matter where we are from."

Another said: "It’s going to be fascinating to see how the new “American Pope” will navigate his relationship with American leadership. Maybe the conclave chose him precisely to deliver some much-needed common sense to the current administration. A divine intervention with a side of reality check.

Another said: "Uh oh, the new Pope doesn’t like VP Vance!"

Another person referenced the passing of Pope Francis, which came hours after meeting with Vance, a recently converted Catholic, inside the Vatican. They added: "You sure you want to be on Vance's bad side?? Don't you remember what he did to the last pope?"

Vance was mocked online and described as the Grim Reaper following Pope Francis' death. The Pope sat down with Mr Vance, a self-confessed "baby Catholic" who was previously called a "Christofascist", for a "brief" chat and photo opportunity after having appeared to have been snubbed. During the brief meeting, video of which showed polite but subdued greetings on behalf of Francis, Mr Vance thanked him for agreeing to see him.

He told him: "I know you have not been feeling great but it's good to see you in better health. Thank you for seeing me." The Vatican said the two met "to exchange Easter greetings", with the Pope offering three big Easter eggs for Mr Vance's children

University of South Florida assistant professor of instruction at the School of Interdisciplinary Global Studies Dr Rob Mellen Jr, told The Mirror at the time how Vance likely fell victim on account of his own love of spreading conspiracy theories.

He said: "The Pope's death just hours after the meeting resulted in the perpetuation of numerous conspiracy theories and memes, probably due to Vance's own penchant for spreading conspiracy theories and unfounded information such as the allegation about immigrants eating pets in Ohio last fall."

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