From Evangelical Pew to Atheist Lecture Hall
JD Vance grew up in a “conservative, evangelical” Protestant milieu. By the time he entered college, the faith of his childhood had slipped away; he describes himself then as an atheist, skeptical of religious claims and distant from organized worship.
Yet by 2016, as Hillbilly Elegy hit shelves, he was “thinking very seriously” about Catholicism. Something in the tradition pulled at him—an intellectual and moral architecture he felt Protestantism and secularism lacked.
Baptism and Augustine
In August 2019, Vance crossed the Tiber. He was baptized and confirmed into the Roman Catholic Church, choosing Augustine of Hippo as his confirmation saint. He later explained that Catholicism persuaded him as “true,” offering a robust way to think about faith and reason.
Augustine’s writings, in his telling, gave him an “intellectual” approach to Christianity, while Catholic theology seemed to align with his emerging political instincts. Many of the key figures in his life, including mentor Peter Thiel, were Catholic or drawn to Catholic thought.
Theology Meets Populism
Vance’s politics and his faith quickly intertwined. He has said Catholic social teaching shapes his worldview, and he frames his “America First” nationalism as an application of the traditional concept of ordo amoris—an ordered love that prioritizes duties to one’s own.
In practice, that has meant hardline stances on immigration, a sharp reduction in legal immigration, and rhetoric that critics see as hostile to foreigners.
The Vatican has not stayed silent. Both Pope Francis and his successor, Pope Leo XIV, have publicly criticized Vance for misrepresenting Church teaching, particularly on immigration. Vance has pushed back, insisting his interpretation is rooted in longstanding Catholic ideas about hierarchy of obligations.
Allies and Dissenters in the Church
Not all Catholic leaders oppose him. Cardinal Timothy Dolan, for example, has called Vance “a very good guy” even as he openly disagrees with him on immigration and foreign policy.
Vance, for his part, has embraced Catholic thinkers who are themselves critical of liberal democracy—figures like Patrick Deneen and Rod Dreher—positioning his faith as a cornerstone of a broader project to reorder American culture and institutions.
Takeaway
Vance’s conversion is not a private spiritual footnote; it’s a lens through which he justifies a fiercely nationalist politics. His clash with papal authority underscores a deeper struggle inside global Catholicism: who gets to define how an ancient faith speaks to modern borders, nations, and power.