JD Vance, the vice president of the United States, has recently created quite the buzz by mentioning the words “ordo amoris.” He invoked this medieval Catholic concept to justify the ongoing Trump immigration crackdown.
During a Fox News interview, Vance stated, “You love your family, and then you love your neighbor, and then you love your community, and then you love your fellow citizens in your own country. And then after that, you can focus and prioritize the rest of the world.” He accused the “far left” of completely inverting this.
However, he faced some massive criticism for saying this during the interview. To respond to a post made by Rory Stewart, he later commented on X (formerly Twitter), “Just google ‘ordo amoris.’ Aside from that, the idea that there isn’t a hierarchy of obligations violates basic common sense.” He added that one’s moral duties to his children and responsibilities for a stranger who lives thousands of miles away couldn’t be the same.
Now, what is the “ordo amoris” concept that he has been citing to try and justify Donald Trump‘s immigration crackdown?
Just google “ordo amoris.” Aside from that, the idea that there isn’t a hierarchy of obligations violates basic common sense. Does Rory really think his moral duties to his own children are the same as his duties to a stranger who lives thousands of miles away? Does anyone? https://t.co/otvv5g1wFN
— JD Vance (@JDVance) January 30, 2025
Ordo amoris is a concept that finds its source in St. Augustine’s City of God. Loosely translated as “order of love” or “order of charity,” it is actually a ladder that discusses the hierarchy of love. The medieval theologian and philosopher emphasized that everything and everyone should be loved in their own order and way.
Augustine wrote, “Now he is a man of just and holy life who … neither loves what he ought not to love, nor fails to love what he ought to love, nor loves that more which ought to be loved less, nor loves that equally which ought to be loved either less or more, nor loves that less or more which ought to be loved equally.”
The theologian emphasized paying a “special regard” to those “who, by the accidents of time, or place, or circumstance, are brought into closer connection with you.”
Encouraged to have a VP promoting the Ordo Amoris.
Christ is King. pic.twitter.com/UqdyiCFdlm
— Matthew Thrower (@mthrower82) January 30, 2025
According to New Advent, in the 13th century, revered Italian theologian St. Thomas Aquinas further worked on the “ordo amoris” concept. However, he also noted that the theme can be interpreted differently depending on the circumstances.
He wrote, “We ought to be most beneficent towards those who are most closely connected with us. And yet this may vary according to the various requirements of time, place, or matter in hand: because in certain cases one ought, for instance, to succor a stranger, in extreme necessity, rather than one’s own father, if he is not in such urgent need.”
In today’s age, “ordo amoris” is interpreted as “order of charity” by the modern catechism of the Catholic Church. It briefly cites the moral obligations of paying regard to parents and being a good citizen.
