The Pentagon pushed back late Thursday on a report that suggested a meeting in January between a US-based cardinal and a member of Donald Trump’s administration escalated.
The Pentagon said on social media that Elbridge Colby, the undersecretary for defense policy, “had a respectful and meaningful conversation” with Cardinal Christophe Pierre on Jan. 22, criticizing “recent false and distorted reports.”
“We have nothing but great respect and we welcome continuing discussions with the Holy See,” the department said on X.
The Free Press reported Monday that Pierre was “subpoenaed” by the White House over comments made by US-born Pope Leo XIV two weeks ago. The report described parts of the meeting as “a stark warning that the United States has the military power to do whatever it wants.”
The report cited Vatican officials who were briefed on the meeting and spoke to the Free Press on condition of anonymity.
US ambassador criticizes ‘artificial materials’
Catholic news outlets, some of which have followed the Free Press story in their own reports, have covered Leo’s Jan. 9 from the Vatican as a call for international cooperation and compliance with international law.
Leo lamented in that speech that “militantism is spreading. The principle established after the Second World War, which prevented nations from using force to violate the borders of others, has been completely discarded.”
I had the pleasure of speaking today with His Eminence, Cardinal Christophe Pierre. As expected, he confirmed that the recent media coverage of his meeting with Undersecretary Colby was “just made up.” Given the wisdom and determination of Mr. Colby, I… https://t.co/R2ogLy2HAf
Although Leo did not refer to specific events, the address came five days after a US military coup led to the capture of Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro.
Trump’s second administration has been accused by some critics of trying to erase bad events from history, and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and other officials have appeared to remove the separation of church and state.
Pierre, who is of French origin, resigned last month after ten years as the Vatican’s representative in the US. Although he has not commented on the meeting with White House officials, the US ambassador to the Vatican, Brian Burch, said he spoke with Pierre on Thursday.
“He confirmed that the recent news of his meeting with Undersecretary Colby was ‘just made up,'” Burch wrote in X.
Pierre, Burch said, described the January meeting in Washington as “relaxed and friendly.”
Criticism of the current war
US officials, who have close ties to evangelical Protestant leaders, say they approve of Trump’s war against Iran.
Hegseth – whose relationship with controversial Christian preacher Douglas Wilson has been previously reported – urged Americans to pray for victory “in the name of Jesus Christ.”
When Trump was asked if he thought God approves of war, he responded with the assertion, “because God is good and God wants to see people taken care of.”
Trump’s comments came a week after Leo said in his Palm Sunday message that God “doesn’t listen to the prayers of those who fight, but He refuses.”
This week, reporters pressed Leo after Trump threatened on social media that “the whole civilization will die,” if Iran did not agree to a ceasefire. Leo said the threat was “absolutely unacceptable.”
Leo later praised the current ceasefire, saying on Wednesday that “only by returning to negotiations can an end to the war be achieved.”
No US tour on the horizon
Trump welcomed Leo’s election weeks after the death of Pope Francis in April 2025 as a “great honor” for the US, but there is no record of the two men speaking.
Leo was born Robert Prevost in Chicago in 1955, but since the late 1980s, his various roles in the Catholic Church have seen him living in Rome or Peru.
Trump, unlike past presidents like Joe Biden and George W. Bush, does not regularly attend church services. He said in 2020 that he considers himself a “non-denominational Christian” after being raised in a Presbyterian.
Trump’s political rise since 2015 has been funded by white Christians, especially evangelicals. But white Catholics also like him more than Hillary Clinton, according to the 2016 presidential election.
In a survey conducted in January, the Pew Research Center found that 46 percent of respondents who identified as white Catholics said they supported “all or most” of Trump’s plans or policies, down 5 percentage points from a year ago. About one-fifth of self-identified Hispanic Catholics answered affirmatively to the same question.
Late last year, Leo supported a rare special message issued by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops that lamented the “climate of fear and anxiety around immigration questions and enforcement” as the Trump administration ramps up deportation efforts.
“If people are in the United States illegally, there are ways to handle that. There are courts, there is a justice system,” said Leo.
Leo is not scheduled to visit the US in the first half of this year, and any trip before early November could be viewed with a political eye, given the mid-term elections held then.
Leo will leave on Monday for an African tour that is said to include 25 speeches in 10 days in Algeria, Cameroon, Angola and Equatorial Guinea. Since being elevated to the papacy, Leo has visited Turkey, Lebanon and Monaco.
Ideas53:58How White Evangelists Corrupted the Faith and Disintegrated the Nation
Over the past decade, there has been one stable voting bloc: white evangelical Christians. Their support has always been 80 percent for Donald Trump, according to historian Kristin Kobes Du Mez. In his book, Jesus and John Wayne, he describes the Trump era as the latest chapter in a long story of marginalization, patriarchy, and Christian nationalism in the evangelical church. *This episode first aired on October 18, 2024.
