Archbishop Broglio: It’s hard to believe Iran war is ‘sponsored by the Lord’

April 03, 2026

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CWN Editor's Note: In a television interview that will be broadcast on Easter Sunday, Archbishop Timothy Broglio of the Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA, was asked to comment on “the rhetoric of say the Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, who openly invokes Jesus repeatedly when talking about the war with Iran ... What do you make of—of that sort of focus and—and sort of trying to cast this war as something that perhaps Jesus would justify?”

Archbishop Broglio replied:

It’s—it’s a little bit problematic in the sense that the Lord Jesus certainly brought a message of—a message of peace and—and also, I think war is always a last resort. Now, you know, they may have information that led them to think that that was the only choice they had. I’m not making a judgment about that because I really don’t know, but I do think that it’s hard to—to cast this war, you know, as—as—as something that would be sponsored by—by the Lord.

Archbishop Broglio was also asked, “And so if you’re hearing from a service member who says, if your teachings, if your guidance is this is not justified, what am I to do as a Catholic who’s in the service?” He replied:

Obviously, you know, the Marine who’s given an order, he’s not in a position really, to resist that order. I mean, he has to obey unless it’s, it’s—unless it’s clearly immoral. And then he would probably have to speak to his, you know, to his chaplain, to his chain of command.

The question might be, would, you know would—would—would generals or admirals have space to perhaps say, can we look at this a different way? But having spoken to some of them too, they’re—they’re also in the same—in the same dilemma.

So I guess my counsel would be to do as little harm as you—as you can, and to try and preserve innocent lives.

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