Can JD Vance Be Excommunicated? What the US Bishops Said About the White House Latest Threat Against Iran as Pope Leo Urges Americans to Call Representatives

Catholic outrage over the Trump administration's Iran rhetoric intensified Tuesday after a powerful message from Pope Leo asking Americans to call their representatives and a forceful statement from Archbishop Paul S. Coakley, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, condemning the president's threats against civilians and warning that the destruction of "a whole civilization" cannot be morally justified.

The messages put the Catholic hierarchy in unusually direct conflict with the White House at a moment when President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance are already facing backlash over their comments on Iran, and petitions have emerged online asking to expel Vance from the church.

Coakley's statement came after Trump warned that "a whole civilization will die tonight" if Iran failed to meet his latest deadline. In response, the archbishop said, "The threat of destroying a whole civilization and the intentional targeting of civilian infrastructure cannot be morally justified."

He called on Trump to "step back from the precipice of war and negotiate a just settlement for the sake of peace and before more lives are lost." The statement, published by the U.S. bishops on April 7, was one of the clearest condemnations yet from a senior American Catholic leader since the latest escalation in the conflict.

The Pope went even further.

On Tuesday, Pope Leo XIV called Trump's threat to destroy an Iranian civilization "truly unacceptable" and said any attack on civilian infrastructure would violate international law. Speaking from Castel Gandolfo, the pope said he was following the crisis "with dismay" and urged Americans and "all people of good will" to pressure political leaders and members of Congress to reject war and work for peace.

Those remarks did not emerge in isolation. In recent days, Leo had already urged world leaders to renounce conquest, return to dialogue, and seek a negotiated end to war. During Holy Week, he appealed for peace in the Middle East and warned against using religious language to justify violence, placing the Vatican squarely on the side of restraint as Washington's rhetoric became more apocalyptic.

That broader Catholic response matters because JD Vance, a Catholic convert, has also become part of the story. Online, some Catholics have called for his excommunication as anger spreads over his defense of the administration's posture toward Iran.

In Budapest on Tuesday, Vance said the latest U.S. strikes did not represent a change in strategy. Reuters reported that he emphasized the attacks had avoided Iran's oil infrastructure and said broader infrastructure targets would not be hit unless negotiations failed or Iran refused to provide an acceptable response.

While the vice president didn't appear to endorse Trump's latest threats, the Catholic anger against him is real. There is a petition online asking the Vatican and the Pope to excommunicate him. For many Catholics, the core issue is that both Trump's language and the possibility of targeting infrastructure raise questions about civilian life, and that is exactly where Coakley and Pope Leo have placed their criticism.

As for excommunication, there is no evidence as of Tuesday that there is formal process against Vance.