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By Adeola Adeosun
Weekend Night Editor
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Three prominent U.S. Catholic cardinals issued a strongly worded statement on Monday measuring the Trump administration's foreign policy against moral principles outlined by Pope Leo XIV in his address to the Vatican diplomatic corps earlier this month.
Cardinals Blase Cupich of Chicago, Robert McElroy of Washington, and Joseph Tobin of Newark, New Jersey, said without a moral vision, current foreign policy debates have become "mired in polarization, partisanship, and narrow economic and social interests."
The statement, titled "Charting A Moral Vision of American Foreign Policy," directly addresses recent events in Venezuela, Ukraine, and Greenland.
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Newsweek reached out to the White House via email on Monday for comment.
Why It Matters
This statement marks another major intervention by U.S. Catholic leadership against President Donald Trump administration's policies, following November's condemnation regarding mass deportations.
The cardinal's words carry particular significance as it draws from Leo XIV's most substantial critique of U.S. and Russian military incursions in sovereign countries, delivered during his annual foreign policy address to ambassadors. History's first U.S.-born pope denounced how nations were using force to assert dominion worldwide, "completely undermining" peace and the post-World War II international legal order.
With the three cardinals representing dioceses serving approximately 3.9 million Catholics across major metropolitan areas, their collective voice could influence Catholic voters and policymakers as debates over military intervention and international aid continue.
What To Know
The cardinals argue that the U.S. this year has entered "the most profound and searing debate about the moral foundation for America's actions in the world since the end of the Cold War." Their statement warns that "escalating threats and armed conflict risk destroying international relations and plunging the world into incalculable suffering."
Drawing heavily from Leo XIV's January 9 address, which broke with Vatican diplomatic protocol by being delivered mostly in English, the cardinals emphasized the pope's concern that "a diplomacy that promotes dialogue and seeks consensus among all parties is being replaced by a diplomacy based on force." The pope had stated that "war is back in vogue and a zeal for war is spreading" and that the principle prohibiting nations from using force to violate borders "has been completely undermined."
The statement addresses multiple policy areas, including the U.S. military operation that removed Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro from power, ongoing tensions in Ukraine, threats regarding Greenland, and cuts to the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). The cardinals condemned wealthy nations' movement "to reduce or eliminate their contributions to humanitarian foreign assistance programs."
"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," the cardinals wrote. They called for 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."
Meanwhile, Trump has said that Maduro's capture was done legally and that the U.S. needs control of Greenland, a semiautonomous region of NATO ally Denmark, for national security purposes.
The statement also reiterates Catholic teaching on abortion and euthanasia while addressing religious freedom concerns. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops was consulted on the statement, and its president, Archbishop Paul Coakley, supports the emphasis on Leo's teaching, according to spokesperson Chieko Noguchi to the Associated Press.
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Full Text Statement
Charting A Moral Vision of American Foreign Policy
"In 2026, the United States has entered into the most profound and searing debate about the moral foundation for America’s actions in the world since the end of the Cold War. The events in Venezuela, Ukraine and Greenland have raised basic questions about the use of military force and the meaning of peace. The sovereign rights of nations to self-determination appear all too fragile in a world of ever greater conflagrations. The balancing of national interest with the common good is being framed within starkly polarized terms. 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. 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.
For all of these reasons, the contribution of Pope Leo in outlining a truly moral foundation for international relations to the Vatican diplomatic corps this month has provided us an enduring ethical compass for establishing the pathway for American foreign policy in the coming years. He stated:
In our time, the weakness of multilateralism is a particular cause for concern at the international level. A diplomacy that promotes dialogue and seeks consensus among all parties is being replaced by a diplomacy based on force, by either individuals or groups of allies. War is back in vogue and a zeal for war is spreading. The principle established after the Second World War, which prohibited nations from using force to violate the borders of others, has been completely undermined. Peace is no longer sought as a gift and desirable good in itself, or in pursuit of “the establishment of the ordered universe willed by God with a more perfect form of justice among men and women.” Instead, peace is sought through weapons as a condition for asserting one’s own dominion.
Pope Leo also reiterates Catholic teaching that “the protection of the right to life constitutes the indispensable foundation for every other human right” and that abortion and euthanasia are destructive of that right. He points to the need for international aid to safeguard the most central elements of human dignity, which are under assault because of the movement by wealthy nations to reduce or eliminate their contributions to humanitarian foreign assistance programs. Finally, the Holy Father points to the increasing violations of conscience and religious freedom in the name of an ideological or religious purity that crushes freedom itself.
As pastors and citizens, we 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. 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.
Our nation’s debate on the moral foundation for American policy is beset by polarization, partisanship, and narrow economic and social interests. Pope Leo has given us the prism through which to raise it to a much higher level. We will preach, teach, and advocate in the coming months to make that higher level possible."
What Happens Next
The cardinals say they are committed to "preach, teach, and advocate in the coming months" to elevate the moral foundation of American foreign policy debates.
Reporting from the Associated Press contributed to this article.
Update 1/19/26, 3:57 p.m. ET: This article has been updated with additional information.
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