Apparently, back in January, a State Department official made a reference to the Avignon Papacy to the Vatican’s chief diplomat.

For those not familiar with the geopolitical history of Europe and the Catholic Church, this was a period in the 1300s where the French monarchy did their level best to basically co-opt and strong arm the church so they could squeeze money out of them, and led to a schism for a time.

Put another way: that is by far the most thinly-veiled direct threat I’ve ever heard anyone make to the Vatican in my life.