Catholic Bishops Echo Pope, Blast Trump For War Against Iran

On Sunday, CBS’s “60 Minutes” aired an interview in which influential American Catholic cardinals criticized President Trump for his war against the tyrannical Iranian regime.

“60 Minutes” anchor Norah O’Donnell noted that Pope Leo XIV had “issued a rare condemnation of President Trump’s threat to destroy Iranian civilization,” adding, “The Pope called it ‘truly unacceptable.’ He also took the unusual step of issuing a call to action.”

She pointed out that in a Palm Sunday homily, the Pope appeared to reference the religious language used by War Secretary Pete Hegseth to frame the Iran war, warning that Jesus does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war. She then asked, “Is this a just war?”

Washington, D.C., Cardinal Robert McElroy replied bluntly, “No. Under Catholic teaching, this is not a just war. Catholic faith teaches us that there are certain prerequisites for a just war. You can’t go for a variety of different aims. You have to have a focused aim, which is to restore justice and restore peace. That’s it.”

“Iran has been the chief exporter of terror. Is there no scenario in which preventing that can be a just war?” O’Donnell pressed.

“It’s an abominable regime. And it should be removed,” McElroy answered. “But this is a war of choice that we went to, and I think it’s embedded in a wider moment in the United States that’s worrying, which is this: We’re seeing before us the possibility of war after war after war.”

“We’re dehumanizing the victims of war by turning the suffering of people and the killing of children and our own soldiers into entertainment,” Cardinal Blaise Cupich of Chicago claimed.

“You called it sickening,” O’Donnell interjected.

“It is sickening,” he replied. “To splice together movie cuts with actual bombing and targeting of people for the purposes of entertainment is sickening. This is not who we are. We’re better than this.”

In March, McElroy, a frequent critic of the president, stated that the U.S. war against Iran was not a morally legitimate conflict “because our country was not responding to an existing or imminent and objectively verifiable attack by Iran. … The criterion of right intention is not met in our country’s decision to attack Iran. … our current war effort does not meet Catholic just war teaching because it is far from clear that the benefits of this war will outweigh the harm which will be done.”