What does the Pentagon have to say about the reported “bitter lecture” delivered to the apostolic nuncio several weeks back?
OSV News has the story:
A spokesperson for the Pentagon confirmed a meeting took place, but denied the report’s description of that meeting in written comments to OSV News.
The Vatican nunciature, or embassy, in Washington told OSV News in a written statement that the meeting took place. But the statement did not shed light on the tone of the meeting or offer specifics about what was discussed there.
“We can confirm that Cardinal Christophe Pierre had a meeting on January 22, 2026, at the Pentagon where he and several officials had discussed current affairs,” the statement said. “Meetings with government officials are a standard practice for the Nuncio, who serves as the Holy See’s ambassador to the United States. The Apostolic Nunciature is grateful for the opportunities to meet and dialogue with government officials and others in Washington to discuss areas of mutual concern.”
In a written statement provided to OSV News, an official with the War Department, a moniker for the Department of Defense, said, “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,” the statement said. “We have nothing but the highest regard and welcome continued dialogue with the Holy See.”
UPDATE: From The Pillar:
Pentagon officials have insisted that a January meeting with the Vatican’s apostolic nuncio was a “cordial” and frank conversation, while some Vatican sources have told The Pillar that while no threats were implied or made by U.S. officials, the discussion between defense leaders and Cardinal Christophe Pierre was at times “tense.”
The comments came in response to an April 6 report from the Free Press, suggesting that Pierre had been summoned to the Pentagon for a dressing down, reportedly in response to a speech on world peace by Pope Leo XIV.
“Under Secretary Colby’s meeting with Cardinal Pierre was a productive, cordial meeting, and a chance for real dialogue on serious issues. They had an honest and respectful conversation. Reporting about threats or disrespect is false and scurrilous,” a senior defense department official speaking on background told The Pillar on Thursday.
Meanwhile, a Vatican official described the meeting as “tense” at times, and characterizing some exchanges as “aggressive,” but confirmed that there was “no question of anyone threatening anyone,” despite suggestion in recent media reports…
…“There were somewhat different perspectives, but definitely no hostility or even hint of an attempt at coercion. That’s frankly just absurd and a calumny,” the [a senior Pentagon] official said.
Senior officials at the Holy See’s Secretariat of State in the Vatican also confirmed to The Pillar that the meeting took place, and that the discussion focused on public speeches and statements by Pope Leo about war and peace in the light of U.S. military action and priorities, but offered a different assessment of the meeting’s tone.
One senior official in Rome described the conversation as being “tense” at times and suggested that U.S. officials had been “aggressive” and “bullying” at points, but insisted that the conversation had been mutually forthright, with Cardinal Pierre “making himself heard, too.”
UPDATE: The Washington Post has still more on this extraordinary — possibly unprecedented — meeting at the Pentagon.
One senior Vatican official familiar with internal assessments of the meeting called it “unusual” and not “a walk in the park.” It was “a frank and direct dialogue on issues where the distance between the Vatican and the United States is evident and clear,” said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive internal assessments.
In the weeks before the Pentagon meeting, Leo had publicly said multiple times that nations should use diplomacy and not war. On Jan. 9, he gave a much-discussed address to his diplomatic corps, warning that “war is back in vogue” and that unnamed powers had “completely undermined” the post-World War II order. He criticized governments that use “weapons as a condition for asserting one’s own dominion.” Such a mentality, Leo said, “gravely threatens the rule of law.”
In light of the pope’s comments, the Defense Department officials “attempted to justify [their] military activity” and sought to frame American force as “a legitimate path to peace,” said one person who spoke with people who attended the Pentagon meeting. That pitch, the person said, surfaced “contrasting views as to the role and purposes of war” from both sides. The person spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly.