Pope Leo XIV/Photo courtesy of Vatican Media. In a desperate effort to drive a wedge between Catholics and the Trump administration, the fake news circulated a story implying that the Department of War (DOW) threatened the Vatican. According to the initial report in The Free Press and amplified by outlets such as The Daily Beast, Catholic blogs, and social media, the incident allegedly occurred during a closed-door meeting on January 22, 2026, at the Pentagon. The report claims that Under Secretary of War for Policy Elbridge Colby (a Catholic and a Trump administration official) and colleagues supposedly summoned the then-Vatican apostolic nuncio/ambassador to the U.S., Cardinal Christophe Pierre, and delivered a “bitter lecture.” One official reportedly invoked the Avignon Papacy (a 14th-century historical episode where French…
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