Get the Ricochet app
Ricochet will work fine in a browser on your mobile devices, but for the best experience please download our app.
In this day and age, anonymous sources used in the media are legion, and their secrets are fodder among bloggers and the mainstream media. Anonymous sources do not provide evidence of whether something is true or not. Their word is hearsay, a polite way of saying gossip to push a narrative.
Cardinal Pierre dispels report of tense Pentagon meeting: ‘Fabrications’
Former Vatican diplomat Cardinal Christophe Pierre has dismissed as “fabrications” the details of a Free Press report alleging that Pentagon officials warned the Church during a January meeting that it must align with American foreign policy, according to U.S. Ambassador to the Holy See Brian Burch. In an April 6 Free Press report, Italian journalist Mattia Ferraresi cited anonymous Vatican officials briefed on the Jan. 22 closed-door meeting to claim that senior Pentagon leaders delivered a “bitter lecture” to Cardinal Pierre, then the apostolic nuncio to the U.S. According to Ferraresi, the Vatican sources described the meeting as a “warning that the United States has the military power to do whatever it wants — and that the Church had better take its side.” Ferraresi wrote that during the meeting, Pentagon officials picked apart the Pontiff’s speech, interpreting it as “a hostile message directed at Trump’s policies.” Citing a Vatican official, Ferraresi added that what “particularly enraged” the Pentagon was a portion of the speech that “appeared to challenge the Donroe Doctrine — Trump’s update of the Monroe Doctrine, which asserts unchallenged American dominion over the Western Hemisphere.” The report also stated that one U.S. official invoked the 14th-century Avignon Papacy — a period when French kings exerted significant influence over the papacy — as a veiled warning of potential coercion against the Holy See. The tensions led the Vatican to shelve plans for Pope Leo to visit the U.S. in 2026, Ferraresi said. Cardinal Pierre said no one made threats of any kind during the meeting, according to Burch. Asked if there was any reference to Avignon at the meeting, the cardinal replied, “None.” “It was a frank and cordial meeting that took place two months ago,” Cardinal Pierre said.
There is another story out there that states Catholic chaplains were not allowed or invited to the Pentagon to say Mass on Good Friday, but Protestant pastors were allowed to offer Good Friday services. Another bogus story.
Good Friday is the only day of the year that a daily Mass is not offered in the Catholic Church.
Each year, from Holy Thursday through the Great Vigil of Easter, the whole Catholic Church of the Roman Rite undergoes an amazing and instructive disruption of her usual experience of the Holy Mass. This disruption is not at all a harmful one, but an edifying opportunity to reflect on the Mass—its nature, its effects, and its celebration. This annual novelty takes place because the Church in these days wants us to focus our attention on the original events, historical and concrete, from which the saving power of the Mass flows day in and day out in every place, throughout Christian history “until he comes in glory.” from Catholic Answers
Discussion (23)
To read this bio, please join Ricochet.
This is a huge story and needs a front and center attention for several reasons:
Is AI or someone else generating this false information, causing a riff between the Trump administration and the Vatican, or even among American Catholics? Is there a goal, to cause division? This is very dangerous territory....
This is the first time I have heard of the Donroe Doctrine! Are you kidding?? Who coined "this new phrase" originally in the NY Post that Trump was stupid enough to adopt?
STAFF • CHARTER MEMBER
To read this bio, please join Ricochet.
I love MAGA's relationship with The Free Press, which vaults from "Ooooo, watch Bari Weiss gut CBS!" to "What lyin' liars these people are!" faster than a Ferrari.
Covering the Vatican under Leo XIV is different. There are street reporters in Chicago who have better contacts in the church than many national news organizations.
Cardinal Pierre is known as a seasoned diplomat. Even if the story is true he would deny it as not to complicate his successor's life. And Elbridge Colby - the senior Pentagon official in question - has a reputation of being a bit undiplomatic. He has previously embarrassed the Administration by unilaterally halting arms shipments to Ukraine, informed the Australians that he was reviewing their submarine deal with US suppliers and interfered with a planned meeting Marco Rubio, Pete Hegseth and their Japanese counterparts to the point it was canceled. He also told UK officials he wanted HMS Prince of Wales out of the Pacific.
So, do I discount the idea that Colby is incapable of what he's accused of? Not in the least. Do I take MAGA's protests about the story seriously? Why should I? After all, because deep down that kind of undiplomatic bravado is pure Trumpism. Isn't it that what you voted for?
To read this bio, please join Ricochet.
Bots (foreign and domestic) and targeted ad dollars seem to driving wedges in the GOP. Iran, Israel, Vatican, amnesty, blackpilling, Trump, nukes, affordability, ... These are all hot button issues that all seem to be getting too much attention/vitriol/despair. Between that craziness and all the propaganda polling I feel like we are all being gaslit 24x7.
To read this bio, please join Ricochet.
No offense, but the Church has been fostering socialism and communism in South America for decades…particularly the Jesuits. It’s about time someone called them out on it in no uncertain terms.
To read this bio, please join Ricochet.
One thing to remember is that it was the World Council of Churches made up of Protestant churches that along with the Russian Orthodox clergy started the Christian Liberation Theology Movement. The Catholic Church was not a member of the WCC.
Unfortunately, some Catholic clergy and lay Catholics got involved with the movement. As one wag said the Catholic Church is for saints and sinners. For respectable people the Anglican Church will do.
You're seeing five of 23 comments. Sign in, or join for just $5 per month, to read them all and add your own.