A defence functionary in US President Trump’s administration allegedly summoned the Vatican ambassador to the Pentagon, demanding the envoy get the Pope to support the US President, according to a report.
Vatican officials briefed The Free Press about the “bitter lecture” involving a senior Pentagon staff telling Cardinal Cristophe Pierre that the US has the military power to do “whatever it wants” and that Pope Leo “better take its side.”
Cardinal Pierre was allegedly summoned by US under secretary of defence and police, Elbridge Colby, a practising Catholic and supporter of J.D. Vance, a Catholic convert.
The escalating hostility between the US and the papacy of this magnitude appears to be the first of its kind. A close rival in the diplomatic history of the Vatican can be sourced back to the 1300s when the French monarch invoked military power to dominate the Pope.
Another dimension of the unprecedentedness of the US-Vatican hostility is Leo’s open criticism of Trump’s attacks on Iran and his repeated deadlines that come with a warning of annihilating the entire West Asian civilisation.
Leo, the first American-born Pope, has not yet visited the US during his time in the Vatican and it appears that he does not plan to.
An opportunity came up during a White House invitation on the occasion of the infrastructure’s 250th birthday, but Leo declined due to “a reluctance to become a political bargaining chip in the 2026 midterms.”
During Easter celebrations at the Vatican, Leo asked world leaders to “lay down their weapons,” while Trump and his administration hailed the rescue of a US serviceman in Iran “an Easter miracle.”
In the same week, the Pope was already amplifying his thinly-veiled criticism of Trump on Palm Sunday when he rejected the claim that God justifies war in the Bible. “He does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war but rejects them,” said Pope leo.
While the White House did not directly comment on the Pope’s remarks, one Vatican official told The Free Press “The Pope may well never visit the United States under this administration.”