Overview
- The Pentagon, which posted a denial Thursday, called the story “highly exaggerated and distorted” and the U.S. ambassador said Cardinal Christophe Pierre labeled the portrayals “fabrications.”
- The Vatican press office on Friday said the media narrative was “completely untrue” and confirmed the January 22 meeting was a routine exchange of views.
- The Free Press had alleged Undersecretary Elbridge Colby delivered a “bitter lecture” and that an official invoked the Avignon papacy, a 14th‑century period when popes were under French influence, but those claims have not been corroborated.
- The dispute traces back to Pope Leo XIV’s January 9 address urging peace, and on Friday he wrote that “God does not bless any conflict,” countering efforts to cast the U.S.–Iran war in religious terms.
- Vice President JD Vance said he will seek accounts from both parties, and coverage has split with The Free Press advancing the allegations and multiple outlets reporting coordinated denials from the Pentagon, the U.S. Embassy to the Holy See, and Vatican spokesmen.