Three top Catholic leaders in the United States issued a rare joint statement sharply questioning the moral foundations of current US foreign policy, invoking guidance from Pope Leo XIV
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WASHINGTON — Three top Catholic leaders in the United States issued a rare joint statement sharply questioning the moral foundations of current US foreign policy, invoking guidance from Pope Leo XIV and warning that a growing reliance on force risks plunging the world into deeper conflict.
Cardinal Blase J. Cupich, Cardinal Robert W. McElroy, and Cardinal Joseph W. Tobin said the United States was engaged in its most serious debate over the morality of its actions abroad since the end of the Cold War, citing recent developments in Venezuela, Ukraine, and Greenland as raising fundamental questions about war, peace, and national interest.
The statement, issued from Chicago, Washington, and Newark, measures American foreign policy against principles set out by Pope Leo XIV in his January 9 address to diplomats accredited to the Holy See, describing that address as an “enduring ethical compass” for US policy in the years ahead.
“As pastors entrusted with the teaching of our people, we cannot stand by while decisions are made that condemn millions to lives trapped permanently at the edge of existence,” Cupich said. “Pope Leo has given us clear direction, and we must apply his teachings to the conduct of our nation and its leaders.”
McElroy said Catholic social teaching demanded more than a narrow reading of national interest. “Catholic social teaching testifies that when national interest narrowly conceived excludes the moral imperative of solidarity among nations and the dignity of the human person, it brings immense suffering to the world and a catastrophic assault on the just peace that benefits every nation and is the will of God,” he said.
He added that ignoring this reality in the current debate over US foreign policy came “at the cost of our country’s truest interests and the best traditions of this land that we love.”
Tobin pointed to recent discussions among church leaders in Rome as reinforcing the urgency of Pope Leo’s message.
“Recent events, including participation in last week’s consistory in Rome with Pope Leo and brother cardinals from across the world, convince me of the need to underscore the vision of Pope Leo for just and peaceful relations among nations,” he said, warning that “escalating threats and armed conflict risk destroying international relations and plunging the world into incalculable suffering.”
In the full text of their statement, titled Charting A Moral Vision of American Foreign Policy, the cardinals said multilateralism was weakening and being replaced by a diplomacy “based on force,” with “war back in vogue and a zeal for war spreading.”
They cited Pope Leo’s warning that the post-World War II principle barring nations from violating borders by force had been “completely undermined,” and that peace was increasingly sought “through weapons as a condition for asserting one’s own dominion.”
The cardinals also highlighted Pope Leo’s reaffirmation of Catholic teaching that “the protection of the right to life constitutes the indispensable foundation for every other human right,” noting his criticism of abortion and euthanasia and his concern over cuts by wealthy nations to humanitarian foreign assistance.
They said the Pope had also drawn attention to “increasing violations of conscience and religious freedom” carried out in the name of ideological or religious purity.
“As pastors and citizens, we embrace this vision for the establishment of a genuinely moral foreign policy for our nation,” the statement said. The cardinals said military action must be treated “only as a last resort in extreme situations, not a normal instrument of national policy,” and called for a foreign policy that advances human life, religious liberty, and human dignity, especially through economic assistance.”
They said the national debate over America’s moral role in the world had become distorted by polarization and partisanship, but added that Pope Leo had offered “the prism through which to raise it to a much higher level.” The cardinals said they would “preach, teach, and advocate in the coming months to make that higher level possible.”
The intervention is unusual in its joint authorship and direct engagement with US foreign policy debates, reflecting the influence of Catholic social teaching on questions of war, peace, and international responsibility.
The Catholic Church has long emphasised multilateral cooperation, the protection of civilians, and limits on the use of force under just-war principles.