The leader of all U.S. military Catholic chaplains, Archbishop Timothy Broglio, has stated that the war on Iran does not fall within the Just War Theory. And when questioned about Pete Hegseth, the self-proclaimed U.S. Secretary of “War,” and his invocation of Jesus for making war on Iran, Broglio said that casting the war as something that Jesus would justify is “a little bit problematic. I would line myself up with Pope Leo, who has been urging for negotiation.”
Archbishop Broglio, formerly head of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, was interviewed by Ed O’Keefe, to be broadcast on CBS News’ “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan” on April 5, Easter Sunday. Broglio explained that St. Augustine’s specifications of the Just War Theory featured the standard that war can only be as a last resort “in order that peace may be obtained”—that is, that there is no other way to obtain peace. And it can never be preemptive.
In the case of the assault on Iran, he said that, even if there “was a threat with nuclear arms, it’s compensating for a threat before the threat is actually realized.... The Lord Jesus certainly brought a message of peace, and also, I think war is always a last resort.”
On the possibility that the Trump administration “may have information that led them to think that that was the only choice they had,” he said: “I’m not making a judgment about that, because I really don’t know. But I do think that it’s hard to cast this war, you know, as something that would be sponsored by the Lord.”
