Avignon, Antipopes, and WTAF
In January, a senior Pentagon official summoned the Vatican’s ambassador to the United States and issued a stunning threat, The Free Press reported this week: “The United States has the military power to do whatever it wants in the world. The Catholic Church had better take its side.”
Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Elbridge Colby proceeded to raise with then-ambassador Cardinal Christophe Pierre the Avignon papacy of the 14th century, a protracted period of French royal interference in the Roman Catholic Church that resulted for a time in dueling popes sitting in Rome and Avignon, France (I’m condensing more than a century of papal history into a single clause).
Christopher Hale, who is the editor of the Letters from Leo newsletter, independently confirmed the Free Press report and adds these two morsels to the schism between the American pope and American president:
- “[S]ome Vatican officials were so alarmed by the Pentagon’s tactics that they shelved plans for Pope Leo XIV to visit the United States later this year.”
- “Other officials in the Vatican saw the Pentagon’s reference to an Avignon papacy as a threat to use military force against the Holy See.”
Too many layers of hubris, ignorance, and ahistoricism to unpack entirely here. More narrowly, there’s deep provincialism at play here, too, as conservative Catholics in America — especially those with the fervor of adult conversions to Catholicism — are especially rankled by internationalist popes like Leo XIV and Francis before him who have decidedly more moderate theologies and emphasize Catholic social teaching.
The White House and Pentagon each took issue with how the Free Press characterized the meeting, but neither denied its account.
Going G-R-E-A-T!
A sampling of headlines from leading U.S. news outlets on the tenuous ceasefire with Iran:
- Trump’s ceasefire already under strain
- White House struggles to prop up truce marked by confusion, contradictions
- Why Iran Thinks It Won the War Despite Huge Military Losses
- After Trump pauses war, Iranians fly flags of victory, not surrender
- ‘Seems like losing’: What the US hasn’t won in Iran
- Gulf States Fear an Emboldened Iran after Trump’s Cease-Fire
- New Deadline Looms for U.S. and Iran as Truce Wavers
- ‘We lose the midterms’: Republicans worry Iran might have already cost them Congress
Absurdist Headline of the Day
This would have been surreal in the 10 days before the ceasefire, but now it’s an absurdist comedy headline: US Asks Allies for Quick Plans to Secure Hormuz After Ceasefire
It’s especially absurd because at the same time the Trump administration is asking allies for help to fix what it broke, it’s also doing this: Trump Team Explores Punishment for NATO Countries That Didn’t Support Iran War
Latest on the Middle East …
- Iranian counterattacks against its Persian Gulf neighbors now appear to have paused.
- At least 203 people were killed and more than 1,000 wounded by Israeli strikes in Lebanon on Wednesday in the deadliest day of the conflict there.
- The Strait of Hormuz remains throttled by Iran:
Four ships were allowed to pass Wednesday, the fewest so far in April, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence, down from more than 100 a day before the war. Iran is requiring ships to work out toll arrangements ahead of time and then pay the fees in cryptocurrency or Chinese yuan, mediators and shipbrokers said.
Quotes of the Day
- Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, chief executive of Abu Dhabi’s state oil company:
This moment requires clarity. So let’s be clear: the Strait of Hormuz is not open. Access is being restricted, conditioned and controlled.
Iran has made clear — through both its statements and actions — that passage is subject to permission, conditions and political leverage. That is not freedom of navigation. That is coercion.
- Mohammed Baharoon, director-general of the B’huth Dubai Public Policy Research Center, a think tank in the UAE:
Iran is the only one that is happy with the outcome. They have now been re-established as the policeman of the Gulf. We woke up to a deal that doesn’t reduce the risk, but instead replaces it with a bigger risk.
Trump DOJ Watch
- Ed Martin is seeking to move his DC bar disciplinary proceeding to federal court.
- Subpoenaed former Attorney General Pam Bondi is trying to get out of testifying before the House Oversight Committee next week about the Jeffrey Epstein files.
- Lawfare’s Molly Roberts goes deep on why the Trump DOJ’s prosecution of Smartmatic under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act is so suspicious.
The Purges: Immigration Judges
More than 100 immigration judges (out of some 750 total) have been dismissed by the Trump administration in an unprecedented purge that threatens to strip any semblance of due process from immigration proceedings.
The Corruption: DHS Contracts Edition
Following on reporting last month from the WSJ and CNN, the WaPo takes its stab at the burgeoning investigation of how DHS contracts were handled under Kristi Noem, Corey Lewandowski, and a little-known contractor named Kara Voorhies.
The Corruption: Ballroom Steel Edition
A European steelmaker is donating tens of millions of dollars worth of structural steel to President Trump’s vanity ballroom project, the NYT reports.
Court Steps In On California Ballot Seizure
The California Supreme Court halted the investigation by Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco that led to the seizure of 650,000 ballots from a 2025 special election. The court’s intervention came the same day that newly released documents show the investigation was spurred by a conservative “election watchdog” group.
An Inconvenient Truth for RFK Jr.?
WaPo: “The acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has delayed publication of a CDC report showing the covid-19 vaccine cut the likelihood of emergency department visits and hospitalizations for healthy adults last winter by about half, according to two scientists familiar with the decision.”
Zeldin Keynotes Climate Denier Confab
EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin was the keynote speaker at a climate change deniers conference in D.C. organized by the Heartland Institute.
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