Jan 9

In a long, but somewhat narrow room, a crowd gathered in the Vatican's Apostolic Palace to hear words of Pope Leo XIV on the annual occasion of the Holy See's "State of the World" address. It was a first for the pontiff as he had been selected in May the prior year. This address was to the diplomats accredited to the Vatican. The 44 minute speech, on January 9, touched on a number of topics, but a few sentences in the speech seem to have set off a chain of events resonating into April. History is intractable, one never knows what will set off a chain of events that will resonate through the year, and beyond. This speech, or perhaps just a few sentences, triggered a series of events which are now, in mid-April, only coming to the public realm. 

Pope Leo Arriving to Speak to Diplomats

First, let us go back to January of this year. The speech was before the war in Iran, but after the US grabbed Nicholas Maduro, the then president of Venezuela. The US administration was also threatening to seize Greenland and make Canada the 51st state. He was making waves about the inadequacy of the NATO alliance, and the US abandoning its commitments. The NATO talk today is only worse after Europe has not become involved in the Iran conflict. The following seems to the part of the speech that has mostly drawn the ire of the US Administration.

In our time, the weakness of multilateralism is a particular cause for concern at the international level. A diplomacy that promotes dialogue and seeks consensus among all parties is being replaced by a diplomacy based on force, by either individuals or groups of allies. War is back in vogue and a zeal for war is spreading. The principle established after the Second World War, which prohibited nations from using force to violate the borders of others, has been completely undermined. Peace is no longer sought as a gift and a desirable good in itself, or in the pursuit of “the establishment of the ordered universe willed by God, with a more perfect form of justice among men and women.” [4] Instead, peace is sought through weapons as a condition for asserting one’s own dominion. This gravely threatens the rule of law, which is the foundation of all peaceful civil coexistence. (Bold by author)

I can only imagine the notes Brian Burch, the US Ambassador the Holy See was forming in his mind as he listened to the talk. It did not take him long to report back to his boss and how the words are counter to the Donroe doctrine. It is reported that the Pentagon took on a sentence by sentence analysis of the speech. On January 22, the then Vatican Nuncio, Cardinal Christophe Pierre, was summoned to the Pentagon. Pierre, 80 years of age, retired as nuncio in March. No notes exist for this meeting, and it is said to be highly unusual for the nuncio to be called to the Pentagon. It has been said this is likely the first visit of a nuncio to the Pentagon. This makes me wonder why the Pentagon and not the state department. Would the state department be too diplomatic? According to news reports, (following from National Catholic Reporter) "The cleric was, according to The Free Press, reportedly dressed down by officials, who insisted the Catholic Church take the U.S. government's side in military matters." It was more incendiary than that, according to "The New Republic" which quoted the original report  the US Undersecretary of War for Policy, Elbridge Colby said “The United States has the military power to do whatever it wants in the world. The Catholic Church had better take its side.” We now have the US engaged in yet another conflict in the Mid-East and after not asking, or building a coalition, Trump now complains that NATO countries have failed to help the US effort. Why the US needs help, if it can do whatever it wants militarily, is unanswered. 

One key point I picked up on is that on Saturday evening, April 11, Leo provided some remarks during the prayer vigil, he said two things that stand out to prove at least one aspect of the report. First, he said, Arrogance tramples upon others; second, "It is here that we find a bulwark against that delusion of omnipotence that surrounds us and is becoming increasingly unpredictable and aggressive." (bold by author). The bold portions, by author) are clearly a reference to Elbridge Colby's statement, “The United States has the military power to do whatever it wants in the world. The Catholic Church had better take its side.” 

Maybe the US is not as invincible as Colby said. After all, our military shoots down a few thousand dollar Iranian drone with multi-million dollar weapon systems. The US turned down Ukraine's offer for a system that will shoot them down that costs about $10,000. That sucking sound you hear is the military wasting money. Why be cost effective when a more expensive solution exists? Russia has been using Iranian drones in the Ukraine conflict, hence Ukraine saw the mother of invention. 

Pope Leo, 9 Jan 2026 arrives to speak to 
Diplomatic Corps

Yet, if the meeting of the Cardinal and the Undersecretary of War for Policy could get any worse, it did. One US attendee, not Colby, in what is said to be a calculated move referenced Avignon. Here is "The New Republic": 

One U.S. official present at the meeting brought up the Avignon papacy, a period in the fourteenth century in which the French monarchy bent the Catholic Church into submission, ordering an attack on Pope Boniface VIII that led to his downfall and subsequent death and forcing the papacy to relocate from Rome to Avignon, a region inside France.

Source: Chris Jansing Reports

The Avignon comment, according to the Financial Times quoted Francesco Sisci, co-founder of the Appia Institute — a geopolitical think-tank that closely tracks Vatican diplomacy, occurred after Cardinal Pierre said the Pope would be guided by his own course guided by Church values. 

Boniface, who was in office from 1294 to 1303, was in captivity for a time, and died a month later. After a short term of Benedict, the papacy moved to Avignon when Clement was elected due to machinations of the King of France. Newsweek reports the following: 

According to Mike Young, author of a newsletter on civic accountability, the mention of the “Avignon papacy” was a reference to “an implicit model for what happens to religious institutions that oppose state power.”

In a post on X, he wrote: “That’s not a slip of the tongue. That’s a studied historical reference deployed deliberately in a room with the Pope's senior diplomat. The message was not subtle.”

Christopher Hale, a former Obama campaign religion outreach official, had this quote in Newsweek: "The Vatican was so alarmed by the Pentagon’s warning that Pope Leo canceled his plans to visit the U.S. later in the year. Hale is further quoted as saying that "many in the Vatican saw the Pentagon’s reference to an Avignon papacy as a threat to use military force against the Holy See." A bit of hyperbole, perhaps, as the writer of the original article believes it absurd to think the US would use military force against the Vatican; although he thought it a clear signal from the US telling the Vatican what happens when a world power is crossed (see above comment from Mike Young). Yet, Sisci is further quoted in the Financial Times saying that the Vatican viewed this as the US setting up a rival pope as did France in the fourteenth century, if Leo did not follow the Trump line.  A Chicago News Station, NBC 5, reported that "A source close to Pope Leo XIV told NBC Chicago political reporter Mary Ann Ahern that the meeting between the Pentagon and Cardinal Christophe Pierre was 'most unpleasant and confrontational.'"  

I am not sure Trump is subtle on most anything. He is bombastic, and he likes it that way. The Pentagon dismisses the tense nature of the meeting and said it was a respectful and reasonable discussion. The US Ambassador to the Holy See said Pierre told him the meeting was frank. Pierre is a diplomat and asked now with the kerfuffle would be diplomatic about the whole situation. On Friday last week, the Vatican said the meeting was not fully as reported. I think Avignon was mentioned in the meeting, as I find it hard to believe a reporter make that reference up.  

Source: Chris Jansing Reports, quoting Vatican Official

Leo was invited to come to the US by the Trump Administration as part of the nation's 250th birthday celebration. On Feb 8, it was announced by the Vatican that he would not come to the US this year, and that on July 4 he would visit the island of Lampedusa, which was the first travel by Pope Francis. Lampedusa is an island off Sicily where many refugees arrive from Africa to get to Europe. I suspect it is a dig at the Trump Administration's immigration policies.

Whatever form this meeting took, Pierre is used to being marginalized and ignored, he and Francis' messages were often ignored by the USCCB, who had a kinder way of showing the two of them the middle finger than perhaps the DoW representatives. Many in the US episcopate were waiting out the Francis tenure. Thus, given the way Pierre was treated by US Bishops, his treatment by the Pentagon may not have seemed so bad. Francis, the US bishops said, "Did not understand the United States." I think Francis understood it better than the most US Bishops, many of whom helped create the man who sits in the oval office.

Christophe Pierre meeting with Eldridge Colby, 22 Jan 2026
It is supposed to show the cordiality between the two, but was likely 
taken before the meeting started. 
Source: The Pillar, via Dept of War

Perhaps, the Pentagon was a suitable location for the confrontation. Confrontation and war go together, and some wonder if that is what Secretary of War Hegseth is waging on the American Catholic Church. Two situations, beyond this, stand out. First, a Protestant Pastor and mentor to Hegseth said that ideally public Catholic processions, such as Marian and Eucharistic processions, should be banned as a public display of idolatry. Second, this past Good Friday, it was reported that for the first time in memory, the Pentagon did not have a Catholic Good Friday service. Invitations went out to Protestants for a Protestant service  and it said no Catholic mass (Good Friday is the only day there is not a mass, but there is a service, which was not held). This is of course after Pope Leo said that God does not listen to the prayers of persons who have blood on their hands. This statement has been refuted by some Protestant pastors, such as Franklin Graham.

While the report from Free Press may not be fully accurate, the fact that the meeting occurred, outside normal channels (Nunico to State Dept) says something about the meeting. Further, regardless of how it has been spun, the Avignon reference seems too implausible to be made up by a journalist. Further, Leo's statements about "arrogance tramples" and on "delusion of omnipotence" has a strong counter relationship to Colby's alleged comment that the US can militarily do what it wants. I think Leo is tipping is hand as to at least that part of the meeting.

Pope Leo after prayer vigil, 11 Apr 2026. Source: CNS via Vatican Media

The whole situation shows that reality is more bizarre than fiction. I don't think Dan Brown could even come up with such a scenario. Perhaps because in the end the Vatican looks like the adult in the room. Whatever the administration was hoping to accomplish with the Vatican they seemed not to have made many friends. Cardinal Parolin who this week is reported to have said that more voices are needed to back up Leo's comments on the injustice of war and the arms race and in favor the poor and marginalized. If the pope's voice is not supported, he said, it is simply a voice in the desert. A few words on January 9, to many, decent words, have set of a series of events that shows the intractability of history. History will be the judge. 

(Author Note: This post was written starting mid-last week, and completed Sunday afternoon, hence it does not capture the Trump Truth Social message or Pope Leo's response on way to Algeria.)

First two images from Vatican recorded broadcast of Leo's address on the State of the World, 9 Jan 2026. 

Dark Chocolate

Dark chocolate is said to have certain health benefits, from reducing blood pressure and stress, to improved brain function. This is due to its containing a high level of antioxidants (polyphenols/flavanols) that fight free radicals (unstable atoms produced through metabolic process). I tend to eat a decent amount of dark chocolate. The wife, who likes to grocery shop by herself, will buy me several bars, usually at Aldi's. I have, however, on occasion been known to snack on some chocolate chips, and this sometimes gets me in trouble, like last week.

"Trouble, starts with T, and rhymes with..." well you get it.  We were asked to bring a dessert for Easter dinner, and my wife found a gluten free recipe that called for several ounces of dark chocolate. I had gone to the cupboard to munch on some dark chocolate chips that were in the container apparently, in my wife's mind, they are set aside for baking and not eating. Over the course of week or so I grabbed a handful to eat. I know my wife does not like dark chocolate, but when she last made a molten cake dessert all she had on hand was dark chocolate chips. When I am allowed to grocery shop, I usually dump a few in the cart. I am not sure of the reason why we were out of regular dark chocolate chips, but they too may have found their way into my palm and by extension my mouth.

Alde Dark Chocolate usually purchased

Perhaps she picked out the dark chocolate dessert since she knew all we had were dark chocolate chips. After she told me she needed seven some ounces, I got out the scale and found that we only had a bit over four ounces. Knowing we would need more, I discreetly grabbed a few more, but then quickly made my way too the basement, our staple overflow storage, where I found we had a second bag of dark chocolate chips. Who knew that my dumping items in the grocery cart would save not only the day, but me. I would have been in a big pile of doo doo. If we did not have the extra bag, I am don't know what my wife could have used to bring down her blood pressure at that moment. She would have needed a whole dark chocolate candy bar to lower her blood pressure if we needed to source more dark chocolate chips, but she is not a fan of dark chocolate, her bp would raise even more. 

I generally have some dark chocolate candy bars down stairs during my forays to the cupboard, but for some reason the chips in the cupboard were calling my name. How long should a person expect chocolate chips to last in a cupboard? Apparently, the wife thinks they are for baking, as in use in  in baked goods, while I often have other thoughts. It has not been unusual for her to find the cupboard bare of chocolate chips when she goes to make cookies or some other treat. I get the blame. One year my sister gave me peanut butter and chocolate chips as a Christmas present, knowing that my wife did not like my peanut butter chocolate chip sandwiches used on sweet breads, like zucchini or banana breads.

So, it came to pass that I was saved by having had dark chocolate chips on hand, or throwing them in the cart when I am allowed to go grocery shopping. When this occurred last week, my wife said "There better be a blog post about this!" I do what the wife says, and this is the blog post.

Palm Sunday Clash

Thirteen years ago in 2013 I made a pilgrimage with my sister and some of her friends to Israel, Palestine and Jordan. That year the Western Christian Churches marked Easter on March 31, but the Orthodox Easter was celebrated May 5. The Catholic Church in the Holy Land that year celebrated Easter with the Orthodox calendar that year. I know this, since we were at the Church of the Annunciation in Nazareth and got caught in the middle of a Palm Sunday procession on Sunday, April 28. Palm Sunday is recognized for the reading of The Passion. The reading focus' on the last days of Christ's life, with a focus on his suffering, starting with Holy Thursday and ending with his placement in the tomb. In the world today there is still suffering. This year Catholics in the Holy Land are celebrating Easter on April 5, so they celebrated Palm Sunday on March 29. As I found out, it was a different kind of celebration. There were two Palm Sunday clashes that are worth mentioning. But, first some history.

2013 Palm Sunday Mass at Church of the Nativity
Author photo 2013 

Most Christians, at least those that are left, in the Holy Land are Palestinians. The Palestinian Christians are of varied sects, Orthodox, Catholic and a variety of Protestant Churches. They are less than two percent, or about 200,000 persons, of the Palestinian population in Israel. Their population is shrinking, but are mainly concentrated in Jerusalem, Bethlehem and Ramallah. To me they are a forgotten population. They find themselves caught in the middle between the conflicts of the Israeli government and the Muslim Palestinians. They are being pushed out by Israeli settlements in and near Bethlehem. 

Israeli Settlements in Palestine, author photo 2013

St Catherine Catholic Church still bear scars from a 2002 altercation when 50 or more armed Palestinians had sought sanctuary to avoid capture by Israeli defense forces. Israel attacked, but did not dislodge those seeking sanctuary. A few months later a negotiated settlement occurred. I saw the bullet holes in the church facade from that action. 

Exterior of St Catherine's Church, when there
you can see bullet holes from 2002
Author photo 2013

For centuries, Palm Sunday mass has been held at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem, where tradition holds, is the place of burial and resurrection of Christ. The Holy Sepulcher is a historic site containing the last five of the 14 stations of the cross within its footprint. Since, the start of the Netanyahu-Trump War with Iran, public masses have not been held in the Church. However, Cardinal Pizzaballa, the Patriarch of Jerusalem asked to say a private mass at the Church. On his way to the Church, not part of a procession or any ceremonial act, he was stopped and told his access would be barred. This was the first clash. The Israeli government says it was for his own good, and, with the complex situation in old Jerusalem, there is no way to address a mass casualty event. Having been in old Jerusalem, I can appreciate the difficulty of addressing a mass casualty event in that area. However, I have not seen a report that they were expecting such an event. You can read an account of the Israeli government stoppage here. Israel did say that Iranian missile fragments had fallen within meters of the church, and that Iran is targeting Christian holy sites. Hence, the explanation of why the Cardinal was barred entry.

Cardinal Pizzaballa (center) in Detroit, Dec 22, 2025
Courtesy of Mary B Hovel

If Israel was expecting a Muslim radical to bomb the church, there is a bit of irony as the keys to the Church, by tradition, are held by two Muslim families. For over 800 years, everyday, they jointly unlock the doors at 4 am, and then lock them again at 7 pm. 

Church of Holy Sepulcher, Author photo 2013

When I visited the Holy Land, there were, so I was told, many fewer pilgrims than usual due to the ongoing divisions between the Palestinians and Israel. With Orthodox Holy Week for part of journey, there were a decent number in Jerusalem and Bethlehem, but further out of that area there were few. For lunch at varied restaurants we were the only group in large dining halls filled otherwise with tables and empty chairs. Many Palestinians depend on tourism for their livelihood and one could see the shops hardly had anyone visit them, even in Bethlehem and Jerusalem. I suspect it is even much worse today. Travel to Israel is currently rated high risk by the State Dept. A few years ago was the Gaza war, and now this war. Not a welcoming situation for tourists

War is high risk. It is also highly intractable, as Trump may be finding out. On Palm Sunday there was was a second clash, this time of words coming from Cardinal Pizzaballa's boss. Using Isaiah 1:15 Pope Leo had this to say during his Palm Sunday liturgy:  

Brothers and sisters, this is our God: Jesus, King of Peace, who rejects war, whom no one can use to justify war. He does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war, but rejects them, saying: “Even though you make many prayers, I will not listen: your hands are full of blood” (Is 1:15).

This shows that the Catholic Church may actually have learned something in the past thousand years, and that in fact church teaching does develop. Leo's own predecessors issued bulls to galvanize the  Crusades in the Holy Land. The first papal bull was issued to start the second crusade. Leo's comments certainly rebuke Secretary of Defense, oops, now War, Pete Hegseth who used his Christian faith to justify the war, and even offered a prayer, written by a Pentagon Chaplain, on 3/25 to that effect. It may also have been directed to Russian Orthodox leaders who view have called the war in Ukraine a Holy War due to what they view as the decadent west. You can read a news report about the Pope's statement here, or read the full address here. Pope Francis often talked about WWIII being played piecemeal. This conflict certainly seems indicative of his claim. Evidence is coming out that Russia and perhaps China are aiding Iran, and now other terror forces, think Houthi rebels, who do well at asymmetric warfare may enter the conflict.

During my 2013 visit I thought how odd it is that the Jesus, the Prince of Peace, came into this earth in the Middle East. There are clashes between Jews and Muslims, Muslims and Christians, but also between Sunni and Shia Muslims. Some experts have referred to the violence in the Mid-East as a clash of cultures or a clash of civilizations. Warfare in this area goes to before Christ was born. There were rivalries between empires like the Akkadians, Babylonians, Egyptians, Hittites, and Persians. Varied clashes in the region may go back as far as 24 BC when one group went around conquering smaller city-states. The Middle East has been a clash of cultures since before the start of the Neolithic period and the advent of agriculture. Jericho (about 16 miles east of Jerusalem) is one of the earliest and most significant locations for the start of agriculture. The start of civilization, allowed by agriculture, has not been able to stop the brawls of the region. 

Sign in Jericho on invention of agriculture and animal husbandry
2013 photo by author

This clash of cultures or civilizations seems part of the regions DNA. The Middle East is a bridge between Europe, Asia and Africa. It has been important for trade, culture and conflict for centuries. Iran has stopped the flow of 20% of the world's oil by containing the strait of Hormuz. The message Christ brought to the world two centuries ago just does not seem to get through. Palm Sunday was changed this year for those in the Holy Land due to the wider war and this led to the two clashes that became evident on Palm Sunday.