Three leading Catholic cardinals in the United States have issued a rare joint appeal urging the nation to ground its foreign policy in peace, respect for human dignity, and religious liberty, drawing directly from the recent teachings of Pope Leo XIV.
The statement, released earlier this week by Cardinal Blase Cupich, Cardinal Robert McElroy, and Cardinal Joseph Tobin, reflects growing concern within the Church over what the cardinals describe as a global shift toward force, domination, and militarization rather than dialogue and peace.
According to Vatican News, the cardinals warned that the United States is now facing “the most profound and searing debate about the moral foundation for America’s actions in the world since the end of the Cold War.” They cited recent developments in Venezuela, Ukraine, and Greenland as evidence that long-standing principles such as national sovereignty and self-determination are increasingly fragile.
The cardinals emphasized that peace must never be reduced to a political slogan or partisan issue. Instead, they argued that it is essential to the dignity and flourishing of the human person. “Our country’s moral role in confronting evil around the world, sustaining the right to life and human dignity, and supporting religious liberty are all under examination,” they wrote, according to Vatican News.
Their appeal closely echoes Pope Leo XIV’s recent address to diplomats accredited to the Holy See, in which he cautioned against a global resurgence of militarism. In that speech, the Pope warned, “War is back in vogue and a zeal for war is spreading,” adding that peace is increasingly pursued “through weapons as a condition for asserting one’s own dominion,” according to Vatican News.
The New York Times reports that while the cardinals did not name political leaders directly, their message clearly responds to current U.S. foreign policy actions and rhetoric. The cardinals called for a “genuinely moral foreign policy” in which “military action must be seen only as a last resort in extreme situations, not a normal instrument of national policy,” according to the Times.
In interviews cited by the New York Times, Cardinal McElroy expressed alarm at what he described as the erosion of a post–World War II consensus that prioritized dialogue over domination. “The post-World War II consensus of dialogue among nations, the sovereign rights of countries, the refusal to use war to pursue questions of national dominance and national gain — that consensus is shifting away now,” he said.
The cardinals also connected foreign policy decisions to the Church’s consistent teaching on the sanctity of life. According to Vatican News, they recalled Pope Leo’s insistence that the right to life is the “indispensable foundation for every other human right,” while also criticizing cuts to humanitarian aid and growing violations of conscience and religious freedom.
Cardinal Tobin, speaking to the New York Times, raised particular concern about what he described as a moral worldview that prioritizes power over compassion. He said some voices in public life appear to advance “almost a Darwinian calculus that the powerful survive and the weak don’t deserve to,” adding bluntly, “I would say that’s less than human.”
Together, the three cardinals framed their statement as a call to conversion rather than condemnation, urging the nation to rediscover a moral compass rooted in the Gospel. Drawing on Pope Leo XIV’s vision, they expressed hope that the United States can overcome polarization and reclaim a commitment to peace that honors life, protects the vulnerable, and upholds the God-given dignity of every human person.
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