In a rare direct rebuke to a U.S. president, three American cardinals urged the Trump administration to step back from foreign policy strategies and goals that threaten world peace. The cardinals, citing a recent warning from Pope Leo XIV of the resurgence of a “zeal for warmaking,” urged instead a return to a U.S. overseas policy focused on the protection of the right to life and investments in the promotion of human dignity.
In a joint statement, Cardinal Blase J. Cupich, archbishop of Chicago; Cardinal Robert McElroy, archbishop of Washington; and Cardinal Joseph W. Tobin, C.Ss.R., archbishop of Newark, said that as “pastors and citizens…[w]e 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.”
In their statement, the cardinals said they embraced Pope Leo’s vision “for the establishment of a genuinely moral foreign policy for our nation.”
The cardinals proposed U.S. 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.”
“We seek to build a truly just and lasting peace, that peace which Jesus proclaimed in the Gospel,” they said.
The three leaders of the U.S. church said that they had critically measured U.S. foreign policy against the principles set forth by Pope Leo XIV in an address to members of the Holy See diplomatic corps on Jan. 6. In that address, the pope noted the abrupt weakening of multilateral institutions that had been empowered to keep the peace since the founding of the United Nations in 1945.
“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,” Pope Leo told the assembled diplomats. “War is back in vogue, and a zeal for war is spreading.”
The pope warned that a “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,” the pope said.
In their statement, the cardinals said the United States had in 2026 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,” they said. “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.”
Recent acts by the Trump administration have placed “under examination” America’s “moral role in confronting evil around the world, sustaining the right to life and human dignity, and supporting religious liberty.” The cardinals warned that “the building of just and sustainable peace…is being reduced to partisan categories that encourage polarization and destructive policies.”
At a time when White House officials had been sharply ratcheting up rhetoric on the president’s desire to annex Greenland, Cardinal McElroy explained the cardinals’ rationale for the joint statement. “Catholic social teaching,” he said, “testifies that when national interest narrowly conceived excludes the moral imperative of solidarity among nations and the dignity of the human person, it brings immense suffering to the world and a catastrophic assault on the just peace that benefits every nation and is the will of God.”
“In our current national debate about the fundamental contours of American foreign policy,” Cardinal McElroy said, “we ignore this reality at the cost of our country’s truest interests and the best traditions of this land that we love.”
“As pastors entrusted with the teaching of our people,” Cardinal Cupich said, “we cannot stand by while decisions are made that condemn millions to lives trapped permanently at the edge of existence. Pope Leo has given us clear direction, and we must apply his teachings to the conduct of our nation and its leaders.”
Cardinal Tobin warned that “escalating threats and armed conflict risk destroying international relations and plunging the world into incalculable suffering.”
The White House’s fixation on seizing or somehow otherwise acquiring Greenland has been raising unprecedented tension with European allies, who warned that a U.S. takeover of Greenland would mean the end of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. The idea is deeply unpopular in Greenland, where 85 percent say they do not wish to become part of the United States, and in the United States, where polls find more than 70 percent oppose the idea of a U.S. takeover.
President Trump has insisted that U.S. control of Greenland is necessary as a countermeasure to claims from China or Russia, often citing the island’s strategic value and a desire to tap into rare earth, oil and gas resources presumed to be hidden beneath the Greenland ice sheet. Critics of the Greenland adventure argue that it represents not only a violation of the U.N. charter but a thoroughly unnecessary exercise of U.S. military power. Existing agreements, they say, allow the United States to restore long-abandoned military sites and assure U.S. participation in commercial exploration and development aimed at resource extraction.
Following up on the administration’s unprecedented threats to a NATO ally, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, Norway, Sweden and the Netherlands dispatched troops to Greenland last week. The show of support for Denmark began after talks among representatives of Denmark, Greenland and the United States highlighted “fundamental disagreement” over the future of the Arctic island.
The White House described plans for more discussions with officials from Denmark and Greenland as “technical talks” on an “acquisition agreement.” That assessment came as a shock to officials from Denmark and Greenland, who say they nonetheless remain committed to more talks with the Trump administration.
Greenland’s Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen welcomed the continuation of “dialogue and diplomacy,” but he said on Jan. 15: “Greenland is not for sale.”
“Greenland does not want to be owned by the United States. Greenland does not want to be governed from the United States. Greenland does not want to be part of the United States.”
Full text of 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.
Signed,
Cardinal Blase J. Cupich, Archbishop of Chicago
Cardinal Robert W. McElroy, Archbishop of Washington
Cardinal Joseph W. Tobin, C.Ss.R., Archbishop of Newark
Politics
Faith
Culture
Vatican
Scripture
Podcasts