Archbishop Timothy Broglio, who oversees all Catholic chaplains serving in the U.S. military, took a rare public stand on Face the Nation airing Easter Sunday, saying the Iran war fails the Church’s moral test. “I would think under the just war theory, it is not,” he said, pointing to long‑standing Catholic doctrine on when war can be justified.
He went further.
“Under the just war theory, it is not because while there was a threat with nuclear arms, it’s compensating for a threat before the threat is actually realized. And I think there, I would line myself up with Pope Leo, who has been urging for negotiation. I realize also that you could say, well, ‘with whom are you going to negotiate?’ And that is a problem. But in the meantime, lives are being lost, both there and also among our troops. So it is a concern.”
Broglio oversees more than 200 Catholic priests serving as military chaplains. His rebuke lands during the fifth week of a war that has killed 13 Americans and more than 1,900 Iranians.
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On Hegseth’s repeated invocations of Jesus to frame the conflict as righteous, Broglio was equally direct. “It’s a little bit problematic in the sense that the Lord Jesus certainly brought a message of peace and also, I think war is always a last resort.” He added that “it’s hard to cast this war, you know, as something that would be sponsored by the Lord.”
To understand what Broglio was pushing back against, consider what Hegseth actually said at a Pentagon prayer service last week. He asked God to give US soldiers “wisdom in every decision, endurance for the trial ahead, unbreakable unity, and overwhelming violence of action against those who deserve no mercy,” adding that “we ask these things with bold confidence in the mighty and powerful name of Jesus Christ.”
That prayer is what Broglio called problematic.
He is not alone. Pope Leo XIV, the first American-born pope, has been building toward this position since the war began. On Palm Sunday, he told tens of thousands gathered in St. Peter’s Square: “Brothers and sisters, this is our God: Jesus, King of Peace, who rejects war, whom no one can use to justify war. He does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war, but rejects them.”
This week, the pope went further still.
In a pre-Easter homily he said the Christian mission has often been “distorted by a desire for domination, entirely foreign to the way of Jesus Christ.”
He also called out Trump. “I’m told that President Trump recently stated that he would like to end the war. Hopefully he’s looking for an off-ramp. Hopefully he’s looking for a way to decrease the amount of violence, of bombing, which would be a significant contribution to removing the hatred that’s being created.”
Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin patriarch of Jerusalem, had already weighed in two weeks ago. “The abuse and manipulation of God’s name to justify this and any other war is the gravest sin we can commit,” he said.
Broglio also had a message for Catholic service members in the field. “Do as little harm as you can, and try and preserve innocent lives.” He acknowledged that under US military law, soldiers cannot object to a specific war, only to war in general. The moral weight, he suggested, falls hardest on those giving the orders.
Featured image via YouTube screengrab
