(OSV News): Three US cardinals have called for a genuinely moral foreign policy, arguing that the nation is undergoing its deepest debate on the ethics behind its global actions since the Cold War.
Blase Cardinal Cupich of Chicago, Robert Cardinal McElroy of Washington and Joseph Cardinal Tobin of Newark, New Jersey, released the statement on January 19, focusing on the “enduring ethical compass” for foreign policy that Pope Leo XIV provided in his January 9 address to members of the diplomatic corps accredited the Holy See.
They pointed to recent turmoil in Venezuela, Ukraine, and Greenland as evidence that core questions about military intervention and the nature of peace are unresolved.
The US recently staged a military intervention in which Venezuela’s president, Nicolás Maduro, and his wife, Cilia Flores, were captured and brought to the US to face federal narco-trafficking and weapons charges.
US president, Donald Trump declared he would “run” Venezuela.
Recently, Trump vowed to acquire Greenland—a semi-autonomous region of the Kingdom of Denmark—by purchase or military force, and threatened tariffs on several European nations opposed to the plan.
The cardinals argued, “The sovereign rights of nations to self-determination appear all too fragile in a world of ever greater conflagrations,” adding, “The balancing of national interest with the common good is being framed within starkly polarised terms.”
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 polarised terms
Blase Cardinal Cupich of Chicago, Robert Cardinal McElroy of Washington and Joseph Cardinal Tobin of Newark, New Jersey
United Nations secretary-general, António Guterres, told BBC Radio 4 on January 18 that current US foreign policy shows “a clear conviction that multilateral solutions are not relevant and that what matters is the exercise of the power and the influence of the United States and sometimes in this respect by the norms of international law.”
The cardinals noted that America’s traditional role in defending life, dignity, and religious freedom is now under scrutiny. They warned that peace-building is increasingly reduced to partisan politics, fuelling division and harmful policies.
With the postwar order weakening and the UN Charter’s prohibitions on force under threat, the cardinals called for a renewed commitment to moral principles in global relations, echoing Pope Leo’s recent January 9 message.
Chieko Noguchi, spokesperson for the US Conference of Catholic Bishops [USCCB], said that the conference “was consulted on the statement” and that that USCCB president, Archbishop Paul Coakley of Oklahoma City, “supports the emphasis placed by the cardinals on Pope Leo’s teaching in these times.”
The cardinals quoted Pope Leo’s January 9 address to diplomats, in which he had warned that “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.”
They warned that peace-building is increasingly reduced to partisan politics, fuelling division and harmful policies
The pope warned, “War is back in vogue and a zeal for war is spreading,” adding that the postwar principle against violating borders by force “has been completely undermined.”
The cardinals highlighted Pope Leo’s affirmation that protecting the right to life underpins all other rights, and that practices like abortion and euthanasia undermine this foundation.
They referenced the pope’s concerns about wealthy countries cutting humanitarian aid, and about growing violations of conscience and religious freedom in the name of ideology or purity.
“As pastors and citizens, we embrace this vision for the establishment of a genuinely moral foreign policy for our nation,” the cardinals said. “We seek to build a truly just and lasting peace, that peace which Jesus proclaimed in the gospel.”
They added, “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.”
The cardinals lamented that debate on America’s moral direction is stymied by partisan and narrow interests, and pledged to promote the higher moral vision articulated by Pope Leo in their preaching and advocacy.
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
Blase Cardinal Cupich of Chicago, Robert Cardinal McElroy of Washington and Joseph Cardinal Tobin of Newark, New Jersey
“As pastors entrusted with the teaching of our people, we cannot stand by while decisions are made that condemn millions to lives trapped permanently at the edge of existence,” Cardinal Cupich said.
Cardinal McElroy said that Catholic social teaching “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.”
Cardinal Tobin stressed that Pope Leo’s vision for global justice and peace is vital.
“Otherwise, escalating threats and armed conflict risk destroying international relations and plunging the world into incalculable suffering,” he said.
The cardinals’ statement came a day after Archbishop Timothy Broglio of the US Archdiocese for the Military Services said in a BBC interview that soldiers who are Catholic could in good conscience disobey orders to participate in an invasion of Greenland.
