The Digest:
Senior US defense officials allegedly threatened the Vatican after Pope Leo XIV criticised the Trump administration's militaristic approach to Iran. According to a Free Press report, Undersecretary of Defense Elbridge Colby told the Vatican's US representative: "The United States has the military power to do whatever it wants in the world. The Catholic Church had better take its side." A US official reportedly invoked the Avignon papacy, a 14th-century period when France forced the pope into submission.
Key Points:
- The pope cancelled plans to visit the US later in the year following the alleged threat.
- The Vatican rejected an invitation to host Pope Leo for America's 250th anniversary in July.
- The pope will instead visit Lampedusa, a Mediterranean island where migrants wash ashore.
- The White House dismissed the report as "highly exaggerated and distorted."
- Tensions began after Leo's January speech criticising "a diplomacy based on force."
