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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 January 9, 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 better take its side,” he said, according to The Free Press.

Another Pentagon official alluded to the Avignon papacy, a period in the 14th century in which the French monarchy ordered an attack on Pope Boniface VIII and forced seven successive popes to relocate from Rome to Avignon in France.

Pope Leo Condemns “Imperialist Occupation” as He Urges Trump to End War on Iran

According to Christopher Hale of the Substack blog Letters From Leo, who independently confirmed the meeting had taken place, Vatican officials took the remarks about the Avignon papacy as “a threat to use military force against the Holy See.”

Dear @thejointstaff: If you receive an illegal order to attack the Vatican, you will also disobey that order. https://t.co/wNAuWYH1B2— Ted Lieu (@tedlieu) April 8, 2026

Dear @thejointstaff: If you receive an illegal order to attack the Vatican, you will also disobey that order. https://t.co/wNAuWYH1B2

The pope is unlikely to visit the US during Trump’s presidency as a result of the........

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