The Pentagon summoned Cardinal Christophe Pierre in January and delivered what Vatican officials later described as a bitter lecture: the pope, they were told, should get behind Donald Trump. One senior defense official reportedly told Pierre that the United States had the military power to do “whatever it wants,” and that Pope Leo, the first American-born pontiff, “better take its side.”
That account, relayed by Vatican officials briefed on the meeting, places an extraordinary pressure point at the center of the Pentagon pope relationship. The Free Press reported that the Pentagon brass also picked apart Leo’s January address, objecting to his warning that diplomacy built on dialogue and consensus was giving way to diplomacy based on force. The speech was Leo’s inaugural State of the World Address, and the clash over it has become one of the clearest signs that the new pope’s relationship with the Trump administration deteriorated almost as soon as he was elected on May 8.
The dispute matters now because Leo is not just any critic of Trump’s policies. He has publicly challenged Trump and his allies on the migrant crackdown and on Trump’s threat to annihilate Iran, while the White House has tried to pull him closer. This summer, it invited Leo to return home and celebrate America’s 250th birthday at the White House. He declined. The Holy See weighed the invitation but decided against the trip because of foreign policy disagreements, opposition from U.S. bishops to Trump’s immigration policy, and a reluctance to become a political bargaining chip in the 2026 midterms.
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The meeting itself also carried an edge that went beyond routine diplomacy. The Pentagon official identified by the source as Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Elbridge Colby, a Trump nominee and close ally of JD Vance, was the one who summoned Pierre, according to the account. One U.S. official even invoked the Avignon Papacy, the 1300s period when the French Crown used military power to dominate papal authority, as the dispute sharpened. That comparison was not subtle, and it suggested that at least some officials saw the argument less as a policy disagreement than as a test of who could bend whom.
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The Defense Department rejected that framing. A spokesperson said the meeting between Pentagon and Vatican officials was respectful and reasonable, and called The Free Press’s characterization of the encounter “highly exaggerated and distorted.” Even so, Leo has not traveled to the United States since his election, has no public plans to do so, and a Vatican official told The Free Press he may never visit under this administration. On March 29, in a Palm Sunday address, Leo said Jesus is the King of Peace who rejects war and “does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war, but rejects them.” By July 4, 2026, he will be on the Mediterranean island of Lampedusa instead of in Washington, a choice that says as much about the rift as any lecture in the Pentagon.
