A senior Vatican diplomat was summoned to the Pentagon for a "bitter lecture" during which it was demanded that the Pope back Donald Trump. Vatican officials familiar with the meeting told The Free Press that one of the Pentagon’s highest-ranking officials invited Cardinal Christophe Pierre to a meeting in January and then told him that the United States has the military power to do "whatever it wants" and that Pope Leo, the first American-born Pope, "had better side with them." The outlet reports that, "as tensions grew," one U.S. official "went so far as to invoke the Avignon Papacy, a period in the 14th century when the French crown used its military might to dominate papal authority." Pierre was reportedly invited to the meeting by Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Elbridge Colby, a Catholic who served in Trump’s first administration and was nominated by Trump for his current role. Colby is a close ally of Catholic convert J.D. Vance. Such a meeting between Pentagon and Vatican officials is considered unprecedented. The Free Press writes that Pentagon leaders "dissected in detail the Pope’s January speech," referring to his inaugural address on the state of the world. They reportedly took issue with the part where Leo criticized the so-called Trump Doctrine, saying: "Diplomacy that promotes dialogue and seeks consensus among all parties is being replaced by diplomacy based on force, whether by individuals or groups of allies." This shocking revelation comes as Leo has publicly criticized Trump and his supporters, first over the deadly and inhumane crackdown on migrants, and recently over the president’s threat on Tuesday morning to destroy Iran. Leo’s relationship with the Trump administration quickly deteriorated after he was elected on May 8, writes Rome journalist Mattia Ferraresi. The White House invited Leo to return to his homeland and celebrate America’s 250th anniversary in Washington this summer, but he declined. Ferraresi notes that the Holy See considered the invitation but decided not to travel due to "a combination of foreign policy disagreements, increasingly vocal opposition from American bishops to Trump’s immigration policies, and reluctance to become a political pawn in the 2026 elections." Leo has not traveled to the U.S. since his election and has no public plans to do so. Instead, on July 4, 2026, he will spend the day on the Mediterranean island of Lampedusa, one of the key points for African refugees attempting to reach Europe. Leo’s criticism of Trump grew sharper after the president issued a threat against Iran in a Truth Social post on Tuesday, writing: "The entire civilization will vanish tonight, never to return. I don’t want that to happen, but it probably will." Calling a war with Iran "unjust," the Pope later that afternoon stated: "Today, as we all know, this threat was made against the entire Iranian people. That is truly unacceptable." Leo further pointed to the harm caused by Trump’s war, saying it "solves nothing." "In fact, we have a global economic crisis, an energy crisis, a highly unstable situation in the Middle East, which only fuels more hatred around the world," Pope Leo said.