{"id":17971,"date":"2026-04-03T00:57:38","date_gmt":"2026-04-03T07:57:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/?p=17971"},"modified":"2026-04-04T01:02:52","modified_gmt":"2026-04-04T08:02:52","slug":"hegseth-says-u-s-troops-are-fighting-for-jesus-the-pope-disagrees-the-new-york-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/?p=17971","title":{"rendered":"“Hegseth Says U.S. Troops Are Fighting for Jesus. The Pope Disagrees”, The New York Times"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Back to News<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The
Pope Leo, during the Holy Thursday Mass in Rome, said the Christian mission had often been \u201cdistorted by a desire for domination.\u201dCredit…Vincenzo Livieri\/Reuters<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In sharp contrast to the Trump administration\u2019s calls for Christian prayers for the war effort, Pope Leo XIV says military domination is \u201centirely foreign to the way of Jesus Christ.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

By\u00a0Motoko Rich<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reporting from Rome<\/p>\n\n\n\n

April 3, 2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pete Hegseth, the U.S. defense secretary, has asked the American people to pray<\/a> \u201cevery day, on bended knee\u201d for a military victory in the Middle East \u201cin the name of Jesus Christ.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pope Leo XIV, the first U.S.-born pontiff, has a starkly different take on what should be done in Jesus\u2019s name.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a homily<\/a> during a Mass on Thursday morning before Easter, the pope said that the Christian mission has often been \u201cdistorted by a desire for domination, entirely foreign to the way of Jesus Christ.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since the United States and Israel began bombing Iran in late February, the pope has consistently called for an end to the violence and a return to dialogue to resolve the conflict. But without naming Mr. Hegseth, he has also pointed out the ways in which Christianity has been marshaled for purposes that the pope says do not align with Catholic teaching.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe tend to consider ourselves powerful when we dominate, victorious when we destroy our equals, great when we are feared,\u201d the pope said in a homily during a Holy Thursday rite<\/a> at the Basilica of St. John Lateran, the cathedral of the bishop of Rome. \u201cGod has given us an example \u2014 not of how to dominate, but of how to liberate; not of how to destroy life, but of how to give it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In late March the pope warned against invoking the name of Jesus<\/a>for battle, saying in a Sunday homily that Jesus \u201cdoes not listen to the prayers of those who wage war, but rejects them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Throughout his first year as pontiff, Leo has been careful not to wade into U.S. politics and has avoided direct confrontation with the White House.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He has used his influence through proxies, such as when he encouraged U.S. bishops to strongly support immigrants<\/a> last year as President Trump escalated his deportation campaign.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He has mentioned Mr. Trump only when asked directly by a reporter if he had a message for the U.S. president.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m told that President Trump recently stated that he would like to end the war,\u201d the pope said outside his country residence in Castel Gandolfo outside Rome on March 31. \u201cHopefully he\u2019s looking for a way to, to decrease the amount of violence, of bombing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pope Leo has said he has not spoken directly to Mr. Trump about the war. But he talked Friday morning by telephone with Isaac Herzog, president of Israel, and reiterated the importance of dialogue and ending the conflicts to secure a \u201cjust and lasting peace\u201d in the Middle East, according to a Vatican statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Josephine de La Bruy\u00e8re contributed reporting from Rome.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Motoko Rich<\/a> is the Times bureau chief in Rome, where she covers Italy, the Vatican and Greece.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Back to News In sharp contrast to the Trump administration\u2019s calls for Christian prayers for the war effort, Pope Leo XIV says military domination is \u201centirely foreign to the way of Jesus Christ.\u201d By\u00a0Motoko Rich Reporting from Rome April 3, 2026 Pete Hegseth, the U.S. defense secretary, has asked the American people to pray \u201cevery day, on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1001004,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[53],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17971"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1001004"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=17971"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17971\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17974,"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17971\/revisions\/17974"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=17971"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=17971"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=17971"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}