On Thursday, a major Catholic paper published an op-ed calling out Vice President JD Vance for blaming Renee Nicole Good’s death on… Renee Nicole Good, and not the ICE officer who shot and killed her. The National Catholic Reporter wrote that Vance has a “twisted and wrongheaded” view on Christianity and called him a “moral stain” on the faith.

“As a Catholic, Vance knows better than to peddle this brand of gaslighting and agitation,” the outlet wrote. “Vance knows that protesting, fleeing or even interfering in an ICE investigation (which there is no evidence that Good did) does not carry a death sentence. Vance knows that lying and killing are sins. Vance knows. He doesn’t care. Vance’s twisted and wrongheaded view of Christianity has been repudiated by two popes. His Catholicism seems to be little more than a political prop, a tool only for his career ambitions and desire for power.”

The outlet specifically called out Vance’s tweets in the immediate aftermath of Wednesday’s shooting, including one in which he wrote: “A tragedy? Absolutely. But a tragedy that falls on this woman and all of the radicals who teach people that immigration is the one type of law that rioters are allowed to interfere with.”

Good, however, was none of the things MAGA is painting her to be. She was a 37-year-old poet and mother of three who was shot after driving home with her partner from dropping off her youngest son at school. She had no criminal record, and, according to her ex-husband, she was not an activist.

Vance officially converted to Catholicism in 2019 after considering himself an atheist for most of his adult life. He’s used his faith to soft-launch a 2028 presidential bid; say a load of sexist things; and push his racist, anti-immigration beliefs—the latter so much so that the late Pope Francis very pointedly called him out in a letter to U.S. bishops in February. Vance then met with him in April—and Pope Francis died seven hours later. But the new Pope Leo also does not appear to be a fan of Vance.

And rather than sit with and reflect on the fact that not one but two of the leaders of his faith do not like him, Vance also threw his wife under the bus in October, saying at a Turning Point USA event that he hopes Usha (who was raised Hindu) will eventually convert because he believes “in the Christian gospel and I hope eventually my wife comes to see it the same way.” But as the Catholic Reporter made clear, his Christian gospel is not their Christian gospel.

During an insane press conference on Thursday, Vance further told journalists that the shooting was of Good’s “own making.” “You have a woman who aimed her car at a law enforcement officer and pressed on the accelerator. Nobody debates that,” he said. “I can believe that her death is a tragedy while also recognizing that it’s a tragedy of her own making and a tragedy of the far left who has marshaled an entire movement—a lunatic fringe—against our law enforcement officers.”

Contrary to his propaganda, the multiple videos from multiple angles show that Good was merely trying to leave a stressful situation—with multiple ICE agents yelling contradictory instructions—when the ICE agent shot her, multiple times, point-blank. Vance maintains that the media, and anyone with eyes and ears who’s seen the video, is wrong.

“The gaslighting is off the charts and I’m having none of it,” he tweeted on Thursday. “This guy was doing his job.” His soul is beyond saving. 

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