Reports that US officials warned the Vatican to align with Washington highlight growing tensions between military power and moral authority as the Pope continues to speak out against war.

Pope Leo, the first American to be named the head of the worldwide Catholic Church, has spoken out against President Donald Trump’s policies frequently this year as the US has invaded  Venezuela and Iran and  threatened Cuba’s 10 million people with an oil blockade that has  crippled the island’s economy and healthcare system – and according to new reports, his criticism has followed a warning from a Pentagon official who demanded the Vatican take the “side” of the White House in foreign disputes.

The Free Press originally  reported this week that after the pope’s “State of the World” address on 9 January, US Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Elbridge Colby called Cardinal Christophe Pierre, the Vatican’s US diplomatic representative, to Washington.

Colby told Pierre that the US “has the military power to do whatever it wants in the world.”

“The Catholic Church had........

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