Cardinal Blase Cupich joined two other U.S. Catholic leaders in denouncing President Donald Trump’s military action in Venezuela and overtures to take over Greenland.
The policies raise “basic questions about the use of military force and the meaning of peace,” Cupich and two other cardinals wrote. Trump’s name was not used in the letter.
“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,” the cardinals wrote. “And the building of just and sustainable peace, so crucial to humanity’s well-being now and in the future, is being reduced to partisan categories that encourage polarization and destructive policies.”
Cardinal Robert McElroy of Washington, D.C., and Cardinal Joseph Tobin of Newark, New Jersey, co-authored the statement titled "Charting a Moral Vision of American Foreign Policy."
Cupich heads the Archdiocese of Chicago, which includes about 2 million Catholics in Cook and Lake counties.
Cardinal Robert McElroy, left, of Washington, D.C.; Cardinal Joseph Tobin of Newark, N.J.; and Cardinal Blase Cupich of Chicago are prominent figures in the more progressive wing of the U.S. church. “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,” the cardinals wrote.
Gregorio Borgia/Gregory Bull/AP Photos
In an interview with the Sun-Times on Monday, Cupich said the three cardinals began talking more than a week ago about making a statement that expanded on an address by Pope Leo XIV earlier this month.
“We wanted to make sure that we talked about the important principles,” Cupich said, adding that he hopes Chicago-area Catholics will reflect on the concerns.
The pope, a Chicago-area native and the first American to lead the worldwide Catholic Church, came out swinging in his address Jan. 9.
“War is back in vogue and a zeal for war is spreading,” Leo said. “The principle established after the Second World War, which prohibited nations from using force to violate the borders of others, has been completely undermined.”
White House officials didn’t respond to a request for comment on the cardinals’ missive.
Last year, the pope, who grew up in Dolton as Robert Prevost, criticized Trump’s immigration policies.
The foreign policy statement Monday also calls out Russia’s ongoing war against Ukraine. Pope Leo has called for the two sides in that conflict to negotiate a peace.
The cardinals said they “embrace this vision for the establishment of a genuinely moral foreign policy for our nation. We seek to build a truly just and lasting peace, that peace which Jesus proclaimed in the Gospel.”
They continue: “We renounce war as an instrument for narrow national interests and proclaim that military action must be seen only as a last resort in extreme situations, not a normal instrument of national policy. We seek a foreign policy that respects and advances the right to human life, religious liberty, and the enhancement of human dignity throughout the world, especially through economic assistance.”
Cupich said he and his fellow U.S. cardinals are echoing worries from clergy around the world.
“Cardinals across the globe are sounding the alarm,” he said.
The statement wasn’t meant to be timed for Monday's holiday honoring the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., Cupich said, but he called it “a wonderful coincidence” to come out on a day to “honor a man who stood for human dignity.”
