UNCONFIRMED (The Free Press, citing anonymous Vatican officials briefed on the meeting): the account has not been independently confirmed, and the Vatican, Cardinal Christophe Pierre (as relayed by U.S. Ambassador Brian Burch) and the Pentagon have all denied it.
On April 6, 2026, The Free Press reported that after Pope Leo XIV's Jan. 9 speech to the diplomatic corps, Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Elbridge Colby summoned Cardinal Christophe Pierre, then the papal nuncio to the United States, to the Pentagon. The meeting took place on Jan. 22. Vatican officials briefed on the meeting, speaking on condition of anonymity, “described it as a bitter lecture warning that the United States has the military power to do whatever it wants—and that the Church had better take its side.” The Free Press did not report those words as a direct quotation from Colby.
According to the report, one U.S. official “went so far as to invoke the Avignon Papacy,” the period from 1309 to 1378 when popes resided in Avignon, France, under military pressure from the French crown. The Free Press also reported that Vatican officials canceled a planned visit by Leo to the United States after the meeting.
Pentagon officials were reportedly aggrieved by passages of the Jan. 9 speech arguing that “a diplomacy that promotes dialogue and seeks consensus among all parties is being replaced by a diplomacy based on force” and that “war is back in vogue, and a zeal for war is spreading.”
The account has been denied by all three parties. A Defense Department official called the report's characterization “highly exaggerated and distorted” and said, “The meeting between Pentagon and Vatican officials was a respectful and reasonable discussion.” Burch said Pierre “confirmed that recent media characterizations of his meeting with Undersecretary Colby are 'fabrications' that were 'just invented.'” On April 10 the Holy See Press Office said, “The narrative offered by some media outlets about this meeting is completely untrue.” On the other side, NBC Chicago, as cited by Newsweek, reported that a source close to Pope Leo described the meeting as “most unpleasant and confrontational.” Snopes said the claims remain unproven.
Correction (October 2, 2026): This entry previously presented “The United States has the military power to do whatever it wants in the world. The Catholic Church had better take its side” as Colby's words. The Free Press published those ideas as anonymous Vatican officials' description of the meeting, not as a quotation, and the entry now says so. It also placed the meeting after the Pope criticized “Trump's war”; the meeting was on Jan. 22, after the Jan. 9 speech and before the Iran war. We removed our own commentary on Pope Boniface VIII and the implied threat, and unsourced claims about “Deus Vult” Bibles, a Protestant-only Good Friday service, 200+ troops reporting religious coercion and 100+ legal experts. The denials from the Vatican, Cardinal Pierre and the Pentagon have been added.