Three American Catholic cardinals have urged President Donald Trump's administration to use a moral compass in its foreign policy, saying US military action in Venezuela, threats to Greenland and cuts to foreign aid risk bringing immense suffering rather than promoting peace.
In a joint statement, Cardinals Blaise Cupich of Chicago, Robert McElroy of Washington, and Joseph Tobin of Newark, New Jersey, warned that without a moral vision, the debate over Washington's public policy has become mired in "polarization, prejudice, and narrow economic and social interests."
"Most of the United States and the world have gone astray when it comes to foreign policy. I still believe that the United States has enormous influence on the world," McElroy told the AP.
This is the second time in two months that members of the American Catholic hierarchy have spoken out against the Trump administration, which many believe does not uphold the basic principles of human dignity.
In November, the entire U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops condemned the Trump administration's mass deportations of migrants and its denigration of them in public speech.
The three cardinals, who are prominent figures in the more progressive wing of the American Catholic Church, took as a starting point in their criticism Pope Leo XIV's January 9 address to ambassadors accredited to the Holy See on foreign policy.
In a speech delivered almost entirely in English, Pope Leo said that nations are using force to consolidate their dominance around the world, completely undermining peace and the international legal order established after World War II.
Pope Leo did not name individual countries, but delivered the speech immediately after the US military operation in Venezuela and the threat to Greenland, as well as during the ongoing Russian war in Ukraine.
In their statement, the three cardinals cited Venezuela, Greenland and Ukraine as raising fundamental questions about the use of military force and the meaning of peace, and they also referred to the reduction in foreign aid initiated by the Donald Trump administration last year.
"Our country's moral role in confronting evil around the world, upholding the right to life and human dignity, and supporting religious freedom is being questioned," they warned.
"We renounce war as an instrument of narrow national interests and proclaim that military action should be seen only as a last resort in extreme situations, and not as a normal instrument of national policy," the cardinals wrote.
"We seek a foreign policy that respects and advances the right to human life, religious freedom, and the promotion of human dignity worldwide, particularly through economic assistance," they said.
Tobin described the moral compass the cardinals would like the U.S. to use globally.
"It cannot be that my prosperity is based on the inhumane treatment of others. The real argument is not just my right, or individual rights, but what is the common good," he told the AP.
Kupic and McElroy said the signatories were inspired to issue the statement after hearing from several fellow cardinals during a meeting at the Vatican on Jan. 7-8. Those cardinals expressed concerns about U.S. actions in Venezuela, cuts in foreign aid and threats to take over Greenland, Kupic said.
In Pope Leo's speech to the diplomatic corps, the Americans were given the words they needed and could use, said Cardinal Kupic.
Trump has insisted that Maduro's capture was legal. On Greenland, Trump has repeatedly argued that the United States needs to have control over the island, which is a semi-autonomous region of NATO ally Denmark, for its national security.
The Trump administration last year significantly reduced the US Agency for International Development, saying its projects promoted a liberal agenda and were a waste of money.
Tobin expressed regret over the withdrawal of USAID assistance and said that American philanthropy makes a big difference in everything from hunger to health.
The three cardinals said their key goal is not to criticize the administration, but to encourage the United States to regain its moral standing in the world by pursuing a foreign policy that is guided by ethics and seeks the common good.
"We do not support any political party or political movement," Tobin said, adding that churchgoers and all people of good will have a role to play in this and can make an argument for basic human decency.
Bonus video:
