Vance vows Trump administration will be ‘biggest defenders of religious liberties,’ Catholics

Vice President JD Vance promised the Trump administration would advocate for Christians and serve as the “biggest defenders of religious liberties” during Friday’s National Catholic Prayer Breakfast in Washington, D.C.

“While you’re certainly not always going to agree with everything that we do in President Trump’s administration, I feel very confident in saying that between protecting the rights of pro-life protesters, between ensuring that we have an opportunity to protect the rights of the unborn in the first place, and importantly, protecting the religious liberty of all people, but in particular Catholics,” Vance said. 

“I think that we can say that President Trump, though not a Catholic himself, has been an incredibly good president for Catholics in the United States of America,” said Vance, who converted to Catholicism in 2019. 

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President Donald Trump signed an executive order Feb. 6 to stand up the Task Force to Eradicate Anti-Christian Bias, which seeks to end the “anti-Christian weaponization of government and unlawful conduct targeting Christians,” according to the White House. 

Members of Trump’s Cabinet and other key agencies are part of the task force, which will conduct a review of any “anti-Christian” policies, practices or conduct within the federal government. 

A White House fact sheet on the executive order claimed the Biden administration engaged in “an egregious pattern” of targeting peaceful Christians, while turning a blind eye to “violent, anti-Christian offenses.” Former President Joe Biden was the second Catholic president in the U.S., after President John F. Kennedy. 

Specifically, the fact sheet pointed to pro-life Christians who were “praying and peacefully demonstrating” outside abortion clinics. 

In January, Trump pardoned more than 20 people convicted of illegally blocking the entrance of abortion clinics and violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act. The law prohibits anyone from attempting to obstruct or interfere with others receiving reproductive health services. 

As a result, Vance said that the Trump administration was headed in the “exact opposite direction” of the Biden administration. 

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Vance also said that, historically, one of the “biggest impediments” to religious liberty around the world has been the result of mistakes from U.S. foreign policy that have resulted in the “eradication” of Christian communities globally. 

As a result, Vance said that peacekeeping efforts from the Trump administration are a policy geared toward “saving lives and carrying out one of Christ’s most important commandments.”

“Perhaps the most important way in which Donald Trump has been a defender of Christian rights all over the world is he has a foreign policy that is oriented toward peace,” said Vance, who received standing ovations before and after his speech. “We have done it already so much in the past 30 days, and I’m proud that we will work for peace all over the world in the remaining four years of President Trump’s term, and I think that’s an important thing.”

Vance’s comments coincide with the Trump administration’s ongoing efforts to end the conflict in Ukraine, following Russia’s invasion in February 2022. On Friday, Trump is scheduled to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to negotiate terms of a peace deal.