Is JD Vance Catholic? What to know about Trump VP pick's religion

Donald Trump selected Ohio U.S. Senator J.D. Vance as his vice presidential running mate on Monday, as the Republican Party officially nominated the former president to run again for the White House at the start of the party’s national convention in Milwaukee.

“As Vice President, J.D. will continue to fight for our Constitution, stand with our Troops, and will do everything he can to help me MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.

More: RNC 2024 live updates: Trump locks down GOP nomination, picks Vance as running mate

Vance, 39, was a fierce Trump critic in 2016 but is now one of the former president’s staunchest defenders, embracing his false claims that the 2020 election was marred by widespread fraud.

Vance is also a practicing Catholic, although relatively new to the faith, as he was baptized in August 2019. In a blog post for the Catholic journal The Lamp in 2020, Vance describes how he was raised Christian but later identified as an atheist when in college at Ohio State University.

Then, at Yale Law School, he describes being introduced to philosopher René Girard through entrepreneur Peter Thiel. Girard’s insight that human civilizations are founded on a “scapegoat myth,” or violence against a common enemy, is a major part of what brought him to “truth,” Vance wrote.

If Trump and Vance win November’s general election, Vance would become the country’s second Catholic vice president. President Joe Biden was the first when elected vice president under former President Barack Obama in 2008.

Reuters contributed to the writing of this story.

This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: What religion is JD Vance? Unpacking Trump VP pick's catholicism