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PaperclipPerfector  4d ago (text post)   17465 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of April 6, 2026

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Nope, he actually declined to speak about it at all. https://thecatholicherald.com/article/vatican-stays-silent-over-reported-pentagon-meeting

He did not deny it.

Vatican stays silent over reported Pentagon meeting

Cardinal Christophe Pierre has declined to comment on reports of a contentious meeting between United States defence officials and the Holy See’s representative in Washington.

And this is more or less a denial and being treated as such by non-joke commenters. Even fr James Martin released a statement about how it didn’t happen but the trump admin is gross enough to do it.

There are norms for Vatican communication, and ‘Letters from Leo’ is not a good source(and there are good liberal sources on this stuff, albeit often published monthly rather than daily/weekly). This is a salacious rumour that was being treated as fact on Twitter, I don’t blame you for being taken in briefly- but holding to it so tightly is a bit queer, thé USCCB doesn’t believe it, thé Catholic journalists with any standards at all don’t believe it, even if they’re liberal activist hacks- this is simply a thing that didn't happen, and the Trump admin is denying it for that reason.

And this is more or less a denial

It's literally declining to speak on the matter, not a denial.

James Martin released a statement about how it didn’t happen but the trump admin is gross enough to do it.

Ok sure I checked that too and you're also wrong about his statement. https://x.com/JamesMartinSJ/status/2042335054072873249

Now, I have little doubt that some officials could have spoken bluntly, even rudely, to Cardinal Christophe Pierre, the former Vatican ambassador to the US, given the language that has come out of this administration and its response to Pope Leo XIV's repeated calls for peace. Did someone at the meeting mention, of all things, the Avignonese papacy? Who knows? It sounds like something that someone with a grudge against the church wished had been said to Cardinal Pierre. But I highly doubt that Cardinal Pierre, a smart man, a kind priest, and, above all, a consummate diplomat, will ever say anything about what was said on the record. Nor will the Holy See or the current nuncio.

His statement is we don't know, and the cardinal along with the other holy see officials are not the types of people who would ever officially confirm or deny this story regardless of truth.

There are norms for Vatican communication, and ‘Letters from Leo’ is not a good source(and there are good liberal sources on this stuff, albeit often published monthly rather than daily/weekly).

This story was broke by The Free Press, I think it's interesting that almost all the derision here I've seen is entirely focused on letters from leo (who simply said they independently verified TFP) and basically no one has tried to target the story's credibility from TFP. That is Bari Weiss's news outlet, she hasn't shown herself and her editorial and management team to the type to be publishing mere rumors made from whole cloth has she?

Either The Free Press made a huge mistake here and fell for a fake source (they currently at least seem to be sticking with it, I don't see any edits on the article).

Or there's a real source but the source lied about it for some reason.

Or they've made it up completely, which why? No one would think this would hurt Trump much to hear an undersecretary vaguely threatened the Vatican behind closed doors when he openly threatens Canada and Greenland without much pushback already. And again this is Bari Weiss's outlet, she's pretty Trump friendly overall now.

Or there is something to the story.

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