Mattia Ferraresi

THE OFFENSE

The Free Press wrote a fake news story using anonymous sources claiming a meeting between Pentagon and Vatican officials was acrimonious. A rewrite of the FP’s false reporting was later published by the Daily Beast and pushed by “influencers” on social media.

THE TRUTH

Both Department of War and Vatican officials have soundly rebuked the fake media narrative, with Cardinal Christophe Pierre reportedly describing the media characterizations as “fabricated” and “invented,” and the Pentagon describing them as “grossly false and distorted.” As stated by Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni, the meeting consisted of “an exchange of views on matters of mutual interest,” and the “narrative offered by some media outlets regarding this meeting does not correspond at all to the truth.”

KEY POINTS

• The media used anonymous sources to construct a “grossly false,” widely rebuked narrative about relations between the Trump Administration and the Vatican.

SOURCES

• Why the Vatican and the White House Are on the Outs
• Trump Goon Gives Vatican ‘Bitter Lecture’ Amid Growing Rift
• Shawn Ryan Post
• White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt Post
• Department of War Rapid Response Post
• U.S. Ambassador Brian Burch Post
• Media narrative about nuncio’s Pentagon meeting untrue, Vatican says