The Vatican’s calls for peace amid escalating tensions between the United States and Iran have taken on added urgency following reports of a tense exchange between U.S. officials and senior Catholic representatives, Newsweek reported on Saturday.
A closed-door January meeting between Pentagon officials and Cardinal Christophe Pierre, the Vatican’s ambassador to Washington, reportedly included pressure for the Holy See to align more closely with U.S. foreign policy, an account the Pentagon has denied.
Bishop Joseph Strickland spoke exclusively with the outlet and said the reported tone of the meeting raised serious concerns about how the papacy is being viewed by U.S. officials.
"The position, the chair of Peter, the papacy, is bigger than one individual," Strickland told Newsweek.
"What was most troublesome, to me, was it seemed to be treating the papacy as just one more world leader."
Strickland emphasized that, for Catholics, the Pope’s authority is not comparable to that of political leaders.
"We certainly understand that for people who don’t believe in the papacy," he said, “but for us as Catholics, it’s more than just one more world leader. We believe it’s a divinely established office. So, it needs to be treated in a different perspective."
Reports that a U.S. official invoked the Avignon Papacy, a period when secular powers exerted control over the Church, further alarmed the former bishop.
"Bringing that up just indicates a kind of a threatening attitude toward the papacy," Strickland said.
"That is like, 'Well, the Pope can be displaced if we, the powers of the world, decide that needs to happen.'"
The fallout from the meeting is believed to have contributed to the Vatican declining an invitation for the Pope to attend upcoming U.S. semiquincentennial celebrations, underscoring the strain in relations.
The tensions come as Pope Leo XIV, the first American to lead the Catholic Church, has repeatedly called for an end to hostilities in the Iran conflict, declining to endorse U.S. military strikes and urging a ceasefire.
His appeals have centered on the human toll of the war, as a fragile truce, brokered with Pakistan’s involvement, hangs over ongoing negotiations led by Vice President JD Vance, a Catholic.
Strickland urged U.S. leaders to weigh the moral consequences of the conflict.
"When innocent people are losing their lives in a conflict like this, the rather, in my estimation, cold term is collateral damage, 'oh, it’s just a consequence,' but these are people," he said. "So, the Church is always there to speak for the value of every person."
He added that history shows military force alone cannot deliver lasting peace. "In many ways, 'might makes right' in our world, but the Church doesn’t embrace that, might doesn’t necessarily make right," Strickland said.
"The more power you have, the more responsibility you have to seek to live the truth."
The episode also highlights a broader dynamic between the Vatican and the Trump administration, particularly given the unique position of an American-born Pope navigating tensions with his own country’s government.
While the Pentagon has said it maintains "the highest regard" for the Holy See, some within the Church view the reported exchange as reflecting a perceived lack of deference to the papacy’s spiritual authority.
Strickland warned against compromising core principles in moments of political pressure. "When we begin to compromise the truth, for whatever purposes, it doesn’t have a good ending," he said.
"Because we’re departing from the reality that we live in."