The American Catholic Church is using Easter to draw an unprecedented line in the sand through the world of politics, faith and individual responsibility.
Archbishop Timothy Broglio went on CBS’s Face the Nation to state unequivocally that Trump’s war on Iran is wrong and that American Catholic soldiers, sailors and air crew have the duty to refuse immoral orders.
This guy is no peacenik preacher.
Broglio is the head of the Archdiocese for the Military Services — the top military chaplain in the United States armed forces — and he has a strong conservative pedigree, having been appointed by Pope Benedict XVI, a man so doctrinaire that people called him the Panzer Pope.
Catholic soldiers, he says, must do their duty but are morally obligated to refuse orders that are “clearly immoral.” He made it clear that Trump’s war fails to meet the criteria of a “just war” and that all Catholic service personnel are obligated to “do as little harm as possible and preserve innocent lives.”
Nothing like this has ever happened in the history of the United States.
During the Vietnam War, individual priests like the Berrigan brothers called out the injustice of the war, but military chaplains and senior clergy did not dare challenge the White House.
Chalk this one up to Pete Hegseth.
Since being appointed Minister of War, he has used over-the-top language about killing without any regard for international law. In a recent Pentagon prayer service, he called on Jesus to help American soldiers fight without mercy:
“Let every round find its mark against the enemies of righteousness and our great nation. Give them… overwhelming violence of action against those who deserve no mercy.”
This rage prayer unsettled many, including Pope Leo. During Holy Palm Sunday celebration, he called out Hegseth:
“This is our God: Jesus, king of peace, who rejects war, whom no one can use to justify war. He does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war but rejects them.”
Leo then quoted from the first chapter of the Prophet Isaiah:
“Even though you make many prayers, I will not listen: your hands are full of blood.”
Perhaps as a snide payback, Hegseth declared there would be no opportunity for Catholic military personnel to participate in the Good Friday prayers — one of the holiest days of the year for Catholics. Hegseth stated that this was going to be a “Protestant only” event.
Is this the Niemöller dictum playing out in the US military — first they targeted Black military leaders, then women, now Catholics?
Hegseth is a member of a far-right Evangelical white supremacist church whose leader, Doug Wilson, has called for ending the right of women to vote. Wilson has also called for the banning of public Catholic celebrations in the United States.
The fight between MAGA and the Catholic Church has been simmering for some time. Part of it lies in the bizarre culture wars of the American right. There was a noticeable movement by some in the far right to convert to Catholicism under the guise of becoming “Trad (traditional) Catholics” — heavy on the Latin and the incense, very weak on the longstanding social justice tradition in the Church.
JD Vance is one such convert.
As Vice President, he used his Catholic faith to justify the repression and deportation of immigrants. Vance quoted the Latin phrase ordo amoris, or “order of love,” which means prioritizing those that one will love and protect.
The dying Pope Francis took the unprecedented step of schooling the VP that trying to create hierarchies of those that one will love and those that one can disregard is a total misreading of the gospels and Church doctrine.
MAGA religious influencers had a seething hatred for Francis. As a social justice Jesuit he preached solidarity and fairness. Francis had the job of clearing house after the horrific sexual abuse scandals but was determined to return the church to its social justice tradition.
When he died, MAGA hoped they would get an right wing ally with the American Pope Leo.
But Leo, like Francis, has deep roots in Latin America. This is a region where memories of the danger of authoritarian rule are strong. It is also where the Liberation Theology movement was born. Leo was schooled in these traditions and has been a forceful in calling out the violence and abuse of the Trump regime.
On Holy Thursday the Pontiff described the actions of the gangster leaders as the “imperialist occupation of the world.”
Recently, the American Conference of Catholic Bishops issued a declarative statement condemning the actions of ICE and the abuse of the rights of immigrant people. Over 2,000 people attended a Church service outside a detention centre in Chicago. Priests and church volunteers from a number of religious denominations have been active in fighting for the rights of the interned.
The American Catholic Church services large immigrant communities. In the white nationalist culture war to make America white again, it was only a matter of time before MAGA tangled with the Church.
As the war in Iran continues to escalate and Trump’s mishandling gets worse, the question is whether Hegseth and his gang will escalate the pressure on Catholic soldiers.
It is clear the Vatican is not backing down.
At the Good Friday Stations of the Cross, Pope Leo prayed for the children “taken away and imprisoned during protests, deported by policies devoid of compassion, shipwrecked on desperate journeys of hope, killed in war zones, and wiped out in death camps.”
This is an Easter message that will resonate with many people regardless of whether they have a religious background or not. It is also sending a message to Trump that he now has a serious fight on his hands with the Pope and the American Catholic Church.
What happens with the soldiers who refuse to join an illegal war in Iran remains to be seen.
(Christopher Hale’s Letters from Leo Substack provides good analysis on the place of the American Catholic church in the age of MAGA)
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