WASHINGTON: Three senior Catholic bishops in the United States have warned that recent developments in U.S. foreign policy have raised serious ethical questions about the use of military force and have called into question the country’s moral standing in the international system. According to the Washington Post, this stance was articulated in a joint statement by Cardinal Blase Cupich, Cardinal Robert McElroy, and Cardinal Joseph Tobin. They referenced concerns expressed by Pope Leo XIII about the rise of unilateralism and the resurgence of war logic in global relations. The statement noted that the U.S. is entering one of the most critical ethical debates regarding its role in the world since the end of the Cold War in 2026. They argued that developments related to Ukraine, Venezuela, and Greenland have raised fundamental questions about the concept of peace and the legitimacy of using military power in the public consciousness. This position follows recent remarks by Pope Leo XIII, who, in his annual foreign policy address at the Vatican, cautioned that dialogue-based diplomacy has given way to coercive diplomacy and that war has once again become a common option in international relations. Pope Leo XIII also emphasized that the principle of refraining from the use of force to violate national borders, established after World War II, has been severely weakened.
