Members of the Trump administration have portrayed the U.S. and Israel’s war on Iran as a religious crusade. U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth last month claimed troops participating in the operation were being protected by “the providence of our almighty God.” On Thursday he erroneously cited a Bible verse while describing the rescue of a downed pilot, compared reporters to the self-righteous Pharisees of the Bible, and said U.S. troops were fighting “in the name of Jesus Christ.”
The religious references have irked the pope, who has been one of the war’s most vocal opponents.
“God does not bless any conflict,” the pontiff wrote on X earlier this month. “Anyone who is a disciple of Christ, the Prince of Peace, is never on the side of those who once wielded the sword and today drop bombs.”
Trump lashed out at the pope last Sunday, when he took to Truth Social to call Leo “weak” on crime and “terrible” on foreign policy.
The pontiff responded by telling reporters travelling with him on the papal plane on Monday that he had “no fear of the Trump administration,” nor any intention of shying away from spreading the “message of the gospel, as a peacemaker.”
U.S. Vice President JD Vance — who converted to Catholicism in 2019 — waded into the spat on Tuesday, warning Leo to “be careful” when discussing theology. He also invoked religious doctrine, including “a 1,000-year tradition of just war theory.”
The American bishops’ conference swiftly issued a statement refuting the vice president’s comments, saying that to be “a just war, it must be a defense against another who actively wages war.”
Gregory Svirnovskiy contributed reporting from Washington DC.