Cardinal Christophe Pierre was told American-born Pope Leo XIV had ‘better take’ the U.S. side in military matters, a news report stated
The Vatican official who reportedly received a threat from the Trump administration against Pope Leo XIV spoke at the February installation ceremony for the new bishop of the Diocese of Palm Beach.
Cardinal Christophe Pierre, who served as the Holy See’s de facto ambassador to the United States, was the pontiff’s representative at the Mass welcoming Manuel de Jesús Rodríguez as the sixth bishop of the nearly 42-year-old diocese.
In his remarks at the Cathedral of St. Ignatius Loyola in Palm Beach Gardens on Feb. 24, Pierre noted the diocese’s diversity of peoples and cultures, but its unity in steadfast devotion to the faith’s core beliefs.
It is a church called to proclaim the gospel in a context shaped by mobility, diversity, and genuine human need
Pierre said of the diocese
In such a setting, the bishop is invited, not only to teach and govern, but to accompany, helping the faithful, recognize how Christ is already at work in their lives
What do news reports say of cardinal’s meeting at the Pentagon?
Pierre retired from the post on March 7 and was replaced by Archbishop Gabriele Giordano Caccia. But Pierre, who was in the post for a decade, is now in the center of yet another potential international diplomatic firestorm for President Donald Trump.
On April 6, news agencies reported that a top Pentagon civilian official — Elbridge Colby, the undersecretary of war for policy — attempted to bully Pierre and the Vatican to support U.S. military objectives. The story was first reported by the New York-based media company The Free Press, which was founded by current CBS News chief Bari Weiss.
The media site’s report said Colby and the other U.S. officials in the closed-door meeting delivered a bitter lecture to Pierre, saying the Vatican had been too hostile to Trump administration policies.
Pierre was told the American-born pontiff had “better take” the U.S. side, the Free Press story stated. To punctuate their demand, the news report said, Colby and others raised the Avignon papacy, a period in the 1300s when seven popes were under control of the French crown.
Regardless of whether the account of the meeting is as The Free Press reported, the publisher of a major Catholic news publication said a meeting between a high-ranking Pentagon official and a high-ranking Vatican diplomat raises questions.
It would be unusual, I think, for any diplomat to meet with military officials, as opposed to more diplomatic personnel
said Joe Ferullo of The National Catholic Reporter
But especially for a representative of the Vatican, which obviously has no real army, no military weapons, no air force, etc. The Vatican is the smallest ‘state’ in the world. It is not a military power. So it’s unusual
Pentagon, Vatican confirmed meeting. But what was said?
The Rev. Thomas J. Reese, senior analyst at the Religion News Service, says it appears the Pentagon requested the meeting with Pierre.
Most embassies have military attaches who meet with people in the Pentagon all the time
said Reese
The Vatican nunciature does not have a military attaché and would normally deal with the State Department, but if the Pentagon requests a meeting, they would respond. That is what appears to have happened
A story on April 9 by the Religion News Service included a statement by the Vatican confirming the meeting took place on Jan. 22. The Vatican did not comment on specifics of the talk.
The Pentagon also issued a prepared statement that said the conversation was “respectful and reasonable” in denying The Free Press report
The Free Press’s characterization of the meeting is highly exaggerated and distorted
the statement said
The meeting between Pentagon and Vatican officials was a respectful and reasonable discussion. We have nothing but the highest regard and welcome continued dialogue with the Holy See
Bryan Froehle, a professor of theology at Palm Beach Atlantic University in West Palm Beach, said the reported threat and discussion that Pope Leo XIV might not visit the U.S. in retaliation “is to profoundly misunderstand” the Gospels and their institutional role by comparing the Catholic Church, a pontiff or any church leader “to a power player” on the world political stage.
None of this is the point, however
Froehle wrote in an email
Empires, military powers, and narcissistic leaders have come and gone throughout human history, from Caesar Augustus to Napoleon and beyond. The Church has seen them all buried and gone
Froehle suggested people read the Gospel of Matthew, specifically verse 28:20, that instructs obedience to Jesus’ teachings.
In other words, to contrast Pope Leo’s words to those of U.S. political leaders or any political leader anywhere is not the point. This is not power politics
he added
This is the Gospel. The key is to for Pope Leo or any church leader to be consistent with the words of Jesus, the Prince of Peace
War, immigration drives friction between U.S. president, U.S.-born pope
The meeting early in the year took place before the Feb. 28 war that Trump launched against Iran, a conflict that has further frayed relations between Washington and the Vatican.
In recent days, Trump issued a profanity-laden post on Easter morning. That missive followed by another social-media post on April 7 threatening to annihilate and “entire civilization,” which drew a rebuke from the pontiff who called the language “truly unacceptable.”
Even before the war, Pope Leo and the president were at sharp odds over the second Trump administration’s nationwide effort to remove immigrants in the U.S. without documentation.
The pope had also given the green light to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops to denounce the administration’s treatment of people seeking refuge, asylum and a better life in America
Archbishop Thomas Wenski of Miami has been among the most outspoken Catholic prelates.
Wenski, who grew up in Palm Beach County, presided at the Feb. 24 Mass welcoming Rodríguez to Palm Beach County and the Treasure Coast. The archbishop criticized secular relativism and lamented that though “globalization made us all neighbors, it has not made us brothers and sisters” during his homily.
The globalization of indifference increasingly closes our hearts to the other, the stranger, the immigrant, all seen as dangers, and the weak and vulnerable as inconvenient nuisances
said Wenski.
What did Cardinal Pierre say at mass for new diocese Bishop Rodríguez
Pierre’s remarks at the ordination and installation ceremony were brief.
He lightheartedly commented on the new bishop’s height — he stands 6 feet 7 inches — and noted Rodriguez’s roots back to the Diocese of Brooklyn. He lauded outgoing Bishop Gerald Barbarito, who Rodríguez replaced, saying “steady encouragement have helped shape a church that seeks to live the truth in love.”
Pierre said Rodríguez arrived well-prepared for his new role after years of parish life that cultivated within the Dominican Republic-born bishop “a pastor’s hand, and a clear love for the Gospel.”
Pierre also stressed unity of purpose and faith as he concluded his talk.
Pope Leo XIV reminds bishops that the gift they receive is always for service
he said
As the Holy Father often expresses it, ‘In the one, we are one’ — a unity that does not erase differences but gathers them in Christ
[end]
The original article
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