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Pentagon-Pope row: JD Vance breaks silence amid 'excommunication' rumors; 'A bad idea'
After reports of the alleged threat surfaced, a post on X falsely claimed, "Pope is reportedly 'not afraid' to excommunicate JD Vance from the Catholic Church."
A closed-door meeting between Pentagon officials and the Vatican reportedly took place in January 2026, following Pope Leo XIV's annual address. According to The Free Press and The Letters from Leo, senior US defense officials criticized the Pope's speech and delivered a blunt warning.
Pope to excommunicate JD Vance?
After reports of the alleged threat surfaced, a post on X claimed, "Breaking: The Pope is reportedly 'not afraid' to excommunicate JD Vance from the Catholic Church."
The post quickly went viral, receiving over 870,000 views. However, this claim is false. Grok clarified, "this user is a Satire account. The pope did not make this statement."
JD Vance responds
Meanwhile, US Vice President JD Vance, speaking from Hungary on Wednesday, said he would look into the reports of the Pentagon’s meeting with the Vatican ambassador.
He said, "I would actually like to talk to Cardinal Cristophe Pierre and, frankly, to our people, to figure out what actually happened. I think it's always a bad idea to offer an opinion on stories that are unconfirmed and uncorroborated, so I'm not going to do that."
What we know about the meeting
Following the Pope's “State of the World” address, US Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Elbridge Colby and other officials reportedly summoned Cardinal Christophe Pierre for a closed-door meeting in January 2026.
According to reports, Colby and his colleagues warned, “The United States has the military power to do whatever it wants in the world. The Catholic Church had better take its side.”
The meeting reportedly came shortly after Pope Leo's annual address to the Vatican diplomatic corps on January 9. In his speech, the Pope warned that “war is back in vogue” and criticized what he described as “diplomacy based on force,” “imperialist occupation,” and the pursuit of global dominance.
Pope Leo argued that "a diplomacy that promotes dialogue and seeks consensus among all parties is being replaced by a diplomacy based on force," adding, “war is back in vogue, and a zeal for war is spreading.”
Vatican reaction
Reports indicate that the Vatican was alarmed by the alleged warning. Pope Leo is said to have canceled plans to visit the United States later this year.
Christopher Hale, author of The Letters from Leo article, wrote that “many in the Vatican saw the Pentagon’s reference to an Avignon papacy as a threat to use military force against the Holy See.”
In February, the Vatican reportedly declined a White House invitation for the Pope to attend America’s 250th anniversary celebrations in July.
Pope Leo has instead reportedly chosen to visit Lampedusa, a small island between Tunisia and Sicily that has become a major landing point for North African migrants.
Pentagon responds
A Defense Department official, speaking to The Independent, disputed the reports, saying, “The Free Press’s characterization of the meeting is highly exaggerated and distorted. 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.”
