By Dan Gooding
Apr 08, 2026
U.S. Vice President JD Vance said Wednesday he would look into reports that senior Pentagon officials lectured the Vatican‘s ambassador, leading to the cancellation of a planned visit by Pope Leo XIV.
Vance, speaking in Hungary, was asked about reports first shared by The Free Press that claimed Cardinal Christophe Pierre was told in January that the Vatican and the Catholic Church should get on board with the Trump administration’s military tactics.
“I would actually like to talk to Cardinal Cristophe Pierre and, frankly, to our people, to figure out what actually happened,” Vance said.
“I think it’s always a bad idea to offer an opinion on stories that are unconfirmed and uncorroborated, so I’m not going to do that.”
Newsweek reached out to the Vatican for comment via email on Wednesday afternoon.
A spokesperson for the Department of Defense told Newsweek that the Free Press’ characterization of the meeting was “highly exaggerated and distorted”.
“The meeting between Pentagon and Vatican officials was a respectful and reasonable discussion,” the spokesperson said. “We have nothing but the highest regard and welcome continued dialogue with the Holy See.”
What Happened at the Pentagon-Vatican Meeting?
According to the report, also backed up by independent reporter Christopher Hale, who writes the Letters from Leo Substack, a closed-door meeting between Vatican and Pentagon officials took place in January.
U.S. officials were reported to have lectured the Catholic Church representatives, with one official reaching for a 14th century weapon and invoking the Avignon Papacy—a period of time when the French monarchy used military force to bend the Bishop of Rome to its wishes.
“America has the military power to do whatever it wants in the world,” Under Secretary of War for Policy Elbridge Colby and his colleagues told the cardinal, per the FP. “The Catholic Church had better take its side.”
Vatican officials were reportedly so shocked that this caused a planned visit by the first American pope to be canceled.
Pope Has Spoken Against Trump’s Actions
Pope Leo XIV has spoken out against the Trump administration on a number of occasions since he took on the role last year, including over the Iran war in recent weeks.
Speaking to reporters Tuesday as he left his country residence in Castel Gandolfo, south of Rome, the pope responded directly to Trump’s comments earlier in the day suggesting that “a whole civilization will die tonight” if Iran failed to meet a U.S. deadline tied to the widening conflict.
Leo said the language amounted to a threat against the Iranian people as a whole, not merely the nation’s leadership.
“Today, as we all know, there was this threat against all the people of Iran,” the pope said. “This is truly unacceptable.”
A central theme of Leo’s Easter message at the weekend was a warning against what he called an ever-growing “globalization of indifference” toward suffering—a phrase he explicitly attributed to his predecessor, Pope Francis.
His comments came against the backdrop of ongoing global conflicts, including the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran and Russia’s continued war in Ukraine, both of which he has repeatedly urged leaders to halt.
Was the Pope Due to Visit the US?
Reports suggested the pope was invited to the U.S. as part of the country’s 250th anniversary celebrations.
According to the Free Press, the Vatican did initially entertain the idea, but postponed the visit indefinitely because of foreign policy disagreements.
On July 4, the pope will instead travel to the Italian island Lampedusa, where North African migrants often wash ashore.
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