Vice President JD Vance Delivers Remarks at the National Catholic Prayer Breakfast

Thank you all. Thank you. Please please please take a seat and I will say that even though I In my private sector days was a technology investor in Silicon Valley I haven't quite figured out how to work my government computer yet So 30 days in I'm gonna have to wing this a little bit because I thought about what I was gonna say on the morning Over here and that of course makes all the communication staff that are sitting backstage Extremely nervous because they have no idea what I'm gonna say and before I went on I talked to Luke Who's one of my main communications guys and I said Luke this is all off the record, right? No one's gonna say or know what I said today so I could just say whatever I want and I'm sure that none of you will leak it to Axios and none of our friends in the media back there will stream it live so But let me one just offer a few notes of appreciation first off to Maureen Ferguson Who's become a dear friend of mine and I know a great leader in this community She and her husband Mike have been better and kinder to me than I deserve and my entire family has been a beneficiary of it especially in finding places to send my kids to school at the very last minute because I'm a bit of a procrastinator and Maureen and Mike have been very helpful in helping us navigate the DC school environment for our young children And so we're grateful to them I want to give a shout-out and a note of appreciation to congressman Chris Smith from the great state of New Jersey So I know received the great award and And we're grateful to his leadership and grateful for his friendship and he is a very good guy So Chris, I assume you're out there somewhere though. I can't see you, but congratulations, man We're proud of you, and I'm proud to be here with you I want to thank Mark Randall who of course has hosted an incredible breakfast for now what? This is the 20th year I believe of the National Catholic Prayer breakfast and it seems like we're doing pretty good here with the National Catholic Prayer breakfast And of course this breakfast holds a very special place in my heart as Maureen mentioned I came here yesterday or last year as a very young senator not knowing how much my life would change And I'm thankful to God but also thankful to the friendship of the people in this room for helping us get there because I think that we have turned a New page in Washington DC and we are going to take advantage of the opportunity that God has given us So I want to say a couple of words just about Trump administration policy because 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 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 Now we know of course the last administration like to throw people in jail for silently praying outside of pro-life clinics We know that they like to harass pro-life fathers of seven very often Catholic fathers for participating in the pro-life movement and we know that the last administration wanted to protect Taxpayer funded abortion right up to the moment of birth on every single one of those issues in 30 short days Donald J. Trump has gone in the exact opposite direction and I am thankful for that And I'm sure that every single person in this room is thankful for that as well But but I actually want to talk about a couple of other things in particular you know one of the most important parts of President Trump's policy and where I think President Trump's policy is most in accord with Christian Christian social teaching and with the Catholic faith is that more than any president of my lifetime President Trump has pursued a path of peace and we very often I think ignore the way in which our foreign policy is either an Instrument or an impediment to people all over the world being able to practice their faith and we know and as of course I learned in this breakfast last year I believe there was some Nigerian priests who were being persecuted and were trying to protect their flock despite incredible persecution We know that some of the biggest Groups that are persecuted all over the world today are Christians and the Trump administration Promises you whether it's here at home with our own citizens or all over the world We will be the biggest defenders of religious liberty and the rights of conscience And I think those policies will fall to the benefit of Catholics in particular all over the world But but I would say my friends that it's not enough simply to protect the rights of conscience to pursue Funding opportunities and grant making opportunities to protect the rights of people to engage in religious conscience We also have to remember that oftentimes the biggest impediments to religious liberty have not called come through malice From the United States government but have actually come through carelessness and One of the things that I have to be honest that I am I am most ashamed about is That in the United States of America sometimes it is our foreign misadventures that lead to the eradication of historical Christian communities all over the world and So when President Trump talks about the need to bring peace whether it's in Russia and Ukraine whether it's in the Middle East We of course have to recognize that as a policy oriented Towards saving lives and carrying out one of Christ's most important commandments But I think we also must recognize it as an effort to protect the religious liberty of Christians Because over the past 40 years it is often been historical Christian communities who bear the brunt of failed American foreign policy and that is in my view 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 towards peace 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 Now of course we're not always going to agree And I'm sure that there are people in this room who agree who agree or disagree with with some of our views on foreign policy on any number of issues The one thing that I will promise you is that you're always going to have an open door with me and with the president I think that you've already seen that and if you haven't please come and bring your concerns And some of you have already brought many concerns to me over the last 30 days But also your attaboys because I think that part of being a good Presidential administration for people of faith all over the United States part of it is listening to people of faith When they have concerns And I think that it's important and I'll make this commitment to you in front of God and in front of all those television cameras Back there that we will always listen to people of faith and people of conscience in the United States of America You have an open door to the Trump administration even and especially maybe when you disagree with us So please use that opportunity communicate with us when we get things right But also when we get things wrong, and that is my solemn obligation, but also my request Because of course as I've learned with all the during the campaign, of course I got Secret Service protection and now it's bumped up now that I'm the vice president United States I live in a bubble ladies and gentlemen I live in a roaming bubble and wherever I go I'm surrounded by armed agents the only way to keep me honest and the only way to know What is actually affecting the real lives of people all over our country is for you to talk to us And so please consider that open door very much an invitation, but also a request and I will say that you know, I believe Maureen and maybe this is wrong that I'm the first Catholic convert to ever be vice president of the United States and I appreciate that I Appreciate you guys clapping because it turns out there are some people on the internet who don't like Catholic converts. And in fact There are some some some Catholics who appear not to like Catholic converts I've learned that the hard way But of course the gross majority of my brothers and sisters in Christ have been incredibly welcoming and incredibly charitable and for that I'm grateful and I wanted to just reflect on that on being a Catholic and particularly Catholic convert and public life in the hopes that maybe It would provide some wisdom or some guidance or maybe just some interesting stories for those of you who are enjoying your breakfast You know one of the things that I try to remind myself of as a convert is that there's a lot I don't know when I was a kid. We used to call new converts to the faith baby Christians And I recognize very much that I am a baby Catholic that there are things about the faith that I don't know and so I try to be humble as best I can when I talk about the faith and publicly because of course I'm not always gonna get it right and I don't want my Inadequacies in describing our faith to fall back on the faith itself And so if you ever hear me pontificating about the Catholic faith, please recognize it comes from a place of deep belief but it also comes from a place of not always knowing everything all the time and You know, I say that of course, I don't try to comment on every single Catholic issue I try not to get involved in the civil wars between Dominicans and Jesuits and conservative Catholics and progressive Catholics But as Michael Corleone said in the Godfather, sometimes they pull me back in sometimes Sometimes I can't help. I can't help but spout off. I am a politician after all ladies and gentlemen but the Thing that I have tried I've tried to to remind people of and the thing that I try to remind myself of is that what attracted me to the Christian faith and what attracted me to this church in particular is The recognition that grace is not something that happens instantaneously It's something that God works in us over a long period of time sometimes many years and sometimes many decades I think that when I was a kid My assumption is that grace is something where the Holy Spirit would come in and it would solve all of our problems And I learned the hard way as as a Catholic in part by following the sacramental life as best as I could That grace is very much a process that God works in us over time He makes us closer to him and makes us better people in the process So when I first became a Catholic, you know I would probably go to confession every other week because I would fail to go to mass every other week And you know things would come up you'd have business trips You'd have you know, the kids would get sick and I I just I just remember that this process of thinking Okay, if I don't go to church this week I'm gonna have to go and talk to some stranger about everything that I did bad the last two weeks and that process worked in me a much better discipline and a much better prayerful life and You know, I'm I'm batting probably like 95% of Sundays now that I actually go to mass and so, you know This is this is I think one of the geniuses I think this is one of the geniuses of our faith Is that it teaches us through repetition in some ways and it forms us through a process of course That is I think at the heart of the mystery of faith that somehow by practicing the sacraments even imperfectly as I certainly do God transforms us and while I am as imperfect Christian as any person in this room I really do feel that God is transforming me every single day And that's one of the great blessings of our faith and one of the great blessings of following the sacraments as I try to do and so thank you all for welcoming a convert into your ranks because I certainly benefit from it and my family does too You know the second thing that I take from my Catholic faith is a Recognition that the deepest and most important things are not material. They're not GDP They're not the numbers that we see in the stock market the real measure of health in a society is the safety and stability and the health of our families and of our We are in the business, of course We're in the business of President Trump's administration of producing prosperity But that prosperity is a means to an end and that end is the flourishing Hopefully of the life of every single citizen in the United States of America That's why we care about these things and you know I often remind myself that you know There have been times in the past where you know The GDP numbers were maybe moving in the right direction where the stock market was moving in the right direction But the United States of America was losing life expectancy I think that what the Catholic Church calls me to do is to say that if the stock market's doing okay But people are literally dying and losing years off of their life. Then we have to do better as a country Catholicism Christianity at its root I think teaches our public officials to care about the deep things the important things the protection of the unborn the Flourishing of our children and the health and the sanctity of our marriages and yes, we care about prosperity But we care about prosperity so that we can promote the common good of every citizen in the United States of America And when I think about the deep things the things that really matter there were there was something really amazing that happened to me in November of 2024 All my friends were there all my family was there We were gathered together in a great moment of celebration and of course, I'm talking about when my seven-year-old chose to be baptized in the church of faith and And and Ewan is at school right now So he won't see this but as amazing as it was to win the election, of course in November of 2024 It's amazing as it was to know that President Trump would become president again It would get to accomplish so many good things for the American people The thing that I was most excited about in November of 2024 is that the week after we won the election My son chose to be baptized in the faith now Here's the basic idea and and those of you of course, you all mostly are cradle Catholics I assume and typically we do water baptism of infants in the Christian in the Catholic Church Very very early on but as many of you know, I am part of an interfaith marriage my wife Though she comes to church with us almost every single Sunday She is not Catholic herself And so the bargain that we have struck is that we will raise our kids Catholic But we will let them choose the moment that they want to ultimately become baptized And if that's terrible sacrilege blame the Dominicans because they're the ones who came up with this scheme But my seven-year-old elected to become Baptized and it was the proudest moment Maybe that I've ever had as a father and he took it very seriously and he wanted to know what are the right things to? Say that what do I need to do? Why is this? And it was an amazing thing for me to see my seven-year-old working through these things himself And when I talk about the deep thing the important thing that that's what I'm talking about Of course, we care about our economic indicators. Of course, we care about the wages of our citizens We care about those things because when our people are doing better They can have the kinds of moments that promote the kind of flourishing that all of us believe is the very core of a good Human life and that of course in my case was watching my little seven-year-old son become baptized And so while again, I will never be perfect I will always try to remind myself that the goal of our public policy is to promote the common good and I will fight for That every single day that I am a public official and that brings me to the final observation I'd like to make as a Christian a Catholic convert in public life is is that you know, sometimes? The bishops don't like what I say And I'm sure by the way, sometimes they're right and sometimes they're wrong. My goal is not to litigate When I'm right and when they're wrong or vice versa my goal is to maybe articulate the way that I think about being a Christian in public life when you also have religious leaders in public life who have a Spiritual duty to speak on the issues of the day and the way that I try to think about it Is that the Catholic Church is is a kind of technology the technology that was developed? 2,000 years ago and it's coming into contact with the technology that's about 10 years old 20 years old and that's of course social media and What I try to remind myself of is that the clergy are important spiritual leaders You'll sometimes hear people say well, we'll let you know, the clergy talk about matters of the church But we can ignore them when it comes to matters of public policy. I think that's the wrong way to look at it That's certainly not the right way to look at it for me What I try to remind myself of is that we are not called as Christians to obsess over every social media Controversy that implicates the Catholic Church whether it involves a clergy or a bishop or the Holy Father himself I think that we should Frankly take a page out of the books of our grandparents who respected our clergy who looked to them for guidance But didn't obsess and fight over every single word that came out of their mouth and entered social media I don't think that's good I'm not again counseling all of you But I don't think it's good for us as Christians to constantly fight with one another over every single controversy in the church sometimes we should let this stuff play out a little bit and try to live our faith as best we can under the dictates of Our faith and under the dictates of our spiritual leaders But not hold them to the standards of social media influencers because they're not and I think And and that brings me of course To the last point that I want to make which is that as you've probably seen Publicly the Holy Father Pope Francis has criticized some of our policies when it comes to immigration Again, my goal here is not to litigate with him or any other clergy member about who's right and who's wrong You obviously know my views and I will speak to them Consistently because I think that I have to do it because it serves the best interest of the American people but what I want to do it instead is reminds and I I talked to a lot of conservative Catholics and I talked to progressive Catholics, too and I think that sometimes a lot of conservative Catholics are too preoccupied with their political criticisms of a particular clergy member or the leader of the Catholic Church And of course, I'm not telling you that you're wrong because sometimes I even agree with you I think that what I would say is that it's not in the best interest of any of us again to treat the religious leaders of our faith as Just another social media influence and I think frankly that goes in both ways if I can be so bold I think it's incumbent upon our religious leaders to recognize that in the era of social media people will hang on every single word that They utter even if that wasn't their intention and even if a given Declaration wasn't meant for consumption in the social media age But every day since I heard of Pope Francis's illness I say a prayer for the Holy Father because while yes, I was Certainly surprised when he criticized our immigration policy and in the way that he has I also know that the Pope I believe that the Pope is Fundamentally a person who cares about the flock of Christians under his under his leadership and he's the man And he's a man who cares about the spiritual direction of the faith and I I say this because every day me and my children have said a prayer for the Holy Father and We pray for his health and we pray for his comfort as he deals with what appears to be a pretty serious health crisis And while yes, some of our media and some of our social media influencers and even some of us fellow Catholics I think try to bring the Holy Father into every culture war battle in American politics I will always remember the Holy Father Whether he makes its way through this illness, and I certainly hope that he does I will always remember the Holy Father in March of 2020 At a time of Incredible stress for really the entire world remember that was the height of the COVID pandemic none of us knew how bad it was we heard reports from Italy of people dying in mass on ventilators and Personally, I had just a few weeks earlier welcomed our second child into the world and so When when the COVID pandemic happened I had a three-week-old baby at home and I went to Dick's Sporting Goods and I bought 900 rounds of ammunition And then I went to Walmart and I bought two bags of rice and I sat at home with my bags of rice and my 900 rounds of ammunition and said, all right, we're just gonna wait this thing out And and into that void When a lot of people didn't know how bad it was and of course thankfully the pandemic was not as bad as the very worst Predictions it was quite bad, but not as bad as the very worst predictions I think all of us can remember that moment of the Holy Father standing in an empty st. Peter's Square holding the Eucharist above his head and giving a sermon that I returned to consistently because it was incredibly Meaningful to me at the time that remains meaningful today. And so if you'll forgive me I hope that you'll be okay with me reading just an excerpt of the homily that Pope Francis gave When evening had come which of course is from Mark chapter 4 verse 35 The gospel passage we have heard begins like this for weeks now It has been evening thick darkness has gathered over our squares our streets and our city It is taken over our lives Filling everything with the deafening silence and a distressing voice. It stops everything as it passes by We feel it in the air. We notice it in people's gestures their glances give them away We find ourselves afraid and lost like the disciples in the gospel. We were caught off guard by an unexpected Turbulent storm we have realized that we are on the same boat all of us fragile and disoriented But at the same time important and needed all of us called to row together Each of us in need of comforting the other On this boat are all of us just like those disciples who spoke anxiously with one voice saying we are parish So we too have realized that we cannot go on thinking of ourselves, but only together It is easy to recognize ourselves in this story what is harder to understand is Jesus's attitude While his disciples are quite naturally alarmed and desperate He is in the stern and the part of the boat sinks first And what does he do? In spite of the tempest he sleeps on soundly Trusting in the father. This is the only time in the gospels. We see Jesus When he wakes up after calming the wind and the waters he turns to the disciples in a reproaching voice Why are you afraid? Have you no faith? Let us try to understand and what does the lack of the disciples faith consist as contrasted with Jesus's trust They had not stopped believing in him in fact they called on him But we see how they call on him teacher Do you not care if we perish? Do you not care they think that Jesus is not interested in him does not care about one of the things that hurts us in our families most when we hear said is Do you not care about me? It is a phrase that wounds and unleashes storms in our hearts. It would have shaken Jesus to Because he more than anyone cares about Indeed once they have called on him he saves his disciples from their scourge The storm exposes our vulnerability and uncovers those false Insuperfluous certainties around which we have constructed our daily schedule our projects our habits and priorities It shows us how we have allowed to become dull and feeble the very things that nourish Sustained and strengthen our lives in our communities The tempest lays bare all our prepackaged ideas and forgetfulness of what nourishes our people soul All those attempts that anesthetize us with ways of thinking and acting that supposedly save us But instead proven capable of putting us in touch with our roots and keeping alive the memory of those who have gone before us We deprive ourselves of the antibodies we need That what we do so often in our lives and our public life and our private lives is we deprive ourselves of the antibodies we need And that is how I will always remember the Holy Father is as a great pastor as a Man who can speak the truth of faith in a very profound way at a moment of great crisis And so I would ask all of us you would join me in this prayer for Pope Francis The name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit Almighty and generous God we thank you for your charity Please grant your mercy upon Pope Francis so he may be restored from sickness and guide us in watchful care We pray that you bless our Holy Father's doctors nurses and medical staff with wisdom and capability So that you may work through them to renew the health of your Shepherd through Christ our Lord Amen and I think that as I Include my remarks here I'm not ever gonna be perfect. I'm never ever gonna get everything right, but I what I will try to do is To try to be the kind of leader who hopes who helps our shared civilization Build those true antibodies against adversity and if the Holy Father can hear us. I hope he knows that there are Thousands of faithful Catholics in this room and millions of faithful Catholics in this country who are praying for him as he weathers His particular storm. God bless you. Thank you I praise the mountain