Modernist Charade: USCCB and Vance Dance to the Tune of Secularism

EWTN News portal reports that U.S. Vice President JD Vance stated he could have spoken “more carefully” when he suggested in January 2025 that the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) was more concerned with “their bottom line” than with immigrants amid the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement. Cardinal Timothy Dolan had claimed Vance apologized for the remarks, though Vance told The Washington Post he did “not recall exactly what he said” but admitted he “could have made that comment more carefully without going too hard.” Vance emphasized his duty to ensure American safety and prosperity, stating, “I have a different job” than Church leadership, and that he must ask if immigrants “have come into our country legally.” Dolan responded that despite disagreements, Vance is “a very good guy” whom he “enjoys… a lot.” The article presents this exchange as a matter of rhetorical tone and policy conflict within a framework where a government official and a post-conciliar bishops’ conference negotiate their respective roles in a secular society.
Thus, the entire debate is a modernist charade that perpetuates the condemned separation of Church and State, with both parties accepting the false premise that the civil power and the ecclesial body operate in distinct, parallel spheres—a premise that directly contradicts the integral Catholic doctrine of the Social Reign of Christ the King.