Steve Bannon Plotted With Jeffrey Epstein To ‘Take Down’ Pope Francis, DOJ Files Reveal

​The latest files from the Department of Justice (DOJ) revealed that former White House adviser Steve Bannon had discussions with disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein to “take down” Pope Francis.

​A message from June 2019 showed Bannon writing, “Will take down (Pope) Francis” to Epstein.

​“The Clintons, Xi, Francis, EU – come on, brother,” he added.​

Bannon, a Catholic, did not agree with Pope Francis’s progressive agenda. He considered the pope as an opponent to his ‘sovereignist’ vision, a brand of populism that overtook Europe in 2018 and 2019, according to The Week.

In a 2018 interview with The Spectator, Bannon had called the pope “beneath contempt” and accused him of “siding with globalist elites.”

The files appeared to show that Epstein had been helping Bannon to build his movement, CNN reported.

​Bannon also reached out to Matteo Salvini, now Italy’s deputy prime minister, to “attack” the pope, according to Source Material.

Bannon reportedly urged Epstein to review ‘In the Closet of the Vatican: Power, Homosexuality, Hypocrisy’, a book by Frédéric Martel, which claimed that about 80 per cent of the clergy in the Vatican are gay.

​The book was simultaneously released in eight languages in 2019.

​Bannon was eager to turn the controversial book into a film and wanted Epstein to be the executive producer. “You are now exec producer of ‘ITCOTV’ (In the closet of the Vatican),” Bannon wrote.

​However, Epstein did not respond to the offer and instead switched the topic to a film Bannon which he was doing with intellectual Noam Chomsky.

​The author claimed that Bannon wanted to “instrumentalize” the book in his efforts against Pope Francis, according to CNN.

Epstein appears to have sent himself an email on April 1, 2019, which read “in the closet of the Vatican,” and then later texted Bannon an article titled “Pope Francis or Steve Bannon? Catholics must choose”.

​Bannon says, “easy choice.”

​It is not confirmed that Bannon was serious about “taking down” the Pope.

Steve Bannon served as the White House’s chief strategist for the first seven months of President Donald Trump's first administration before Trump fired him. According to journalist Michael Wolff, Bannon was introduced to Jeffrey Epstein in 2017, and Epstein introduced Bannon to some of his associates.

​Other messages between Epstein and Bannon showed the two discussing efforts to influence international geopolitics, including shaping European coalitions, increasing pressure on China, and forging business ties in the Middle East.

​Epstein offered Bannon the use of a Paris apartment, a Palm Beach house, and his plane on multiple occasions. The two dined together frequently. Bannon provided media training to Epstein as part of work on a documentary and coached him as he faced increasing media scrutiny in early 2019.

​Bannon sought support from Epstein in his effort to build a global right-wing populist movement.