Donald Trump has tangled himself in an almighty rift with God’s representative on Earth – The Pope.

Upon hearing of the death of Pope Francis, the President told reporters, ‘I’d like to be pope. That would be my No.1 choice.’

Instead, American-born Pope Leo XIV now occupies the Chair of St Peter. Despite this, and amid the Iran war, relations between Washington and the Vatican appear to be reaching a breaking point.

Trump, who also said only his own ‘morality’ can stop him, has still constantly been looking to the Vatican for its approval for his designs on the world.

A fired-up member of Team Trump dredged up a 700-year-old threat to Pope Leo after called the President’s promise to wipe out Iranian civilisation ‘truly unacceptable’.

One Vatican official told The Free Press, that Cardinal Christophe Pierre – Pope Leo XIV’s ambassador to the United States was summoned to a secret meeting at the Pentagon in January.

There Under Secretary of War for Policy, Elbridge Colby, delivered to the Cardinal what was described ‘as a lecture’.

Colby and his team told him America has the military power to do whatever it wants in the world. And the Catholic Church had better fall in line.

At the fiery meeting, one US official reportedly invoked the Avignon Papacy, where the French pope fled violence in Rome to take up residency in Côte d’Azur in the 14th Century.

Other nations denigrated the move as the ‘Babylonian Captivity’, damaging the prestige and supposed independence of the papacy.

The move led to the Great Western Schism where three rival Popes vied for power nearly causing the downfall of the Catholic Church.

The fallout of the disastrous meeting led the Vatican to cancel a planned trip to the US on Independence Day.

But the Pope doesn’t seem to have been particularly bothered by the furore and was recently pictured spinning a basketball with the Harlem Globetrotters.

In a move that will infuriate the White House further, Leo urged people to contact their political leaders and congressional representatives to ask them, tell them to work for peace and to reject war.’

‘We have a worldwide economic crisis, an energy crisis, (a) situation in the Middle East of great instability, which is only provoking more hatred throughout the world,’ he said.

He said the message to political leaders should be: ‘Come back to the table, let’s talk, let’s look for solutions in a peaceful way and let’s remember especially the innocent children, the elderly, sick, so many people who have already become or will become victims of this continued warfare.’

The Vatican also fears that the Iran conflict has spread to south Lebanon, threatening Christians who are an important protector of the church in the Middle East.

Trump’s team have been desperate for a visit from America’s first Pope, but he has now reportedly snubbed his invitation to attend the nation’s 250th anniversary events.

Instead of spending July 4th in his homeland, the Pope will visit Lampedusa, a small Mediterranean island that has become an entry point for African migrants attempting to reach Europe.

When contacted, the War Department sought to downplay reports of the rift.

‘The Free Press’s characterisation of the meeting is highly exaggerated and distorted. The meeting between Pentagon and Vatican officials was a respectful and reasonable discussion.

‘We have nothing but the highest regard and welcome continued dialogue with the Holy See,’ a War Department official said.

But the Vatican could hand Donald Trump another bloody nose by meeting with Barack Obama – who recently was giddy on a podcast, insisting the only person he would like to meet on Planet Earth is Pope Leo, without hesitation.

And with the Pope’s term in office usually only ending in death, and Trump’s calls for a third term, so far, denied – there can only be one winner on the international stage.

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