Through the first year of President Donald Trump’s second term, tensions between his administration and the Vatican — now with the first U.S.-born pope — had simmered.
Days after the one-year mark of Trump returning to office, an unusual meeting between the two sides took place that has now turned up the temperature of the public discussion about the relationship. Following expressions of concern by Pope Leo XIV and Vatican officials over the administration’s actions in Venezuela, Minneapolis and elsewhere, Pentagon officials on Jan. 22 hosted a top Vatican diplomat, Cardinal Christophe Pierre, then the Holy See’s ambassador to the United States, for a rare visit. It is not typical for a church official to meet with the Defense Department instead of the State Department or White House.
