Before President Donald Trump attacked Pope Leo XIV on social media, three leading U.S. cardinals said the administration’s war against Iran was “unjust.”
Cardinal Blase Cupich of Chicago, Cardinal Robert McElroy of Washington, D.C., and Cardinal Joseph Tobin of Newark, New Jersey, appeared on 60 Minutes on CBS on Sunday.
“The Catholic faith teaches us there are certain prerequisites for a just war. You can’t go for a variety of different aims. You have to have a focused aim, which is to restore justice and restore peace. That’s it,” McElroy said.
The cardinal at the nation’s cardinal said Iran had “an abominable regime,” adding that “it should be removed.”
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“But this is a war of choice that we went to, and I think it’s embedded in a wider moment in the United States that’s worrying, which is this: We’re seeing before us the possibility of war after war after war,” McElroy said.
Pope Leo XIV is the first U.S.-born pope and is originally from Chicago. He has also been outspoken against the war Trump and Israel have waged against Iran since the end of February.
On Sunday – after the 60 News story went out – Trump attacked the pontiff on social media, saying the only reason Leo became pope was because of his presidency.
“Leo should get his act together as Pope, use Common Sense, stop catering to the Radical Left, and focus on being a Great Pope, not a Politician. It’s hurting him very badly and, more importantly, it’s hurting the Catholic Church!” Trump wrote.
Speaking to CBS, the archbishop of Leo’s hometown said the White House was using “gamification” on social media in social media.
“We’re dehumanizing the victims of war by turning the suffering of people and the killing of children and our own soldiers into entertainment,” Cupich said.
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“It is sickening to splice together movie cuts with actual bombing and targeting of people for the purposes of entertainment … This is not who we are. We’re better than this,” the Chicago cardinal said.
Tobin spoke to 60 Minutes about the Trump administration’s actions against illegal immigration, and how he has called Immigration and Customs Enforcement – ICE – a “lawless organization.”
“I didn’t say that they were people without law. But when people act in this way, when they have to hide their identities to terrify people, when they can actually violate other guarantees of our Constitution and Bill of Rights, well I think somebody’s got to call that out and I’m not the only one,” the Newark cardinal said.
The three cardinals said it is very significant the United States now has a pope, and it’s their job to promote the Church’s mission.
“We’re the three American cardinals that are actively serving dioceses right now. So we listen to a lot of people. It’s part of the job description. And I think we’re aware of the anxieties of people about the threats to peace at all different levels,” Tobin told CBS.
