
Vice President JD Vance was asked about a report claiming the Pentagon threatened the Vatican with military force. Vance said he had no prior knowledge of it. The report outlined a serious escalation in tensions between President Donald Trump‘s White House and Pope Leo XIV.
According to the report, U.S. officials complained about a speech by Pope Leo XIV, after he took indirect shots at President Trump. They reportedly invited Cardinal Christophe Pierre, the Holy See’s ambassador to the U.S., to the Pentagon, where one official referenced the Avignon Papacy of the 14th century, a period when the French Crown dictated terms to the Catholic Church.