Senior church leaders say the Trump administration lacks political direction

Three influential U.S. cardinals have admonished the Trump administration with unusually blunt words of conscience. In a joint statement, Blase Cupich, Robert McElroy, and Joseph Tobin emphasize that the foreign policy debate in Washington is losing its direction without a viable moral compass. They criticize that it is increasingly shaped by polarization and partisan thinking and becomes bogged down in narrow economic and societal interests instead of showing responsibility, restraint, and long-term orientation. They warn that military force, threats against Greenland, and massive cuts to foreign aid generate suffering rather than peace. The cardinals make clear that this is not about party politics, but about the question of what role the United States still wants to play in the world.

One of the cardinals makes clear that not only in the United States, but worldwide, a foreign policy irresponsibility has spread. Precisely because the United States still possesses extraordinary power and reach, the country cannot evade this development. From influence arises obligation - and it is precisely this special responsibility that is currently too often pushed aside.

The initiative is also notable because it does not stand alone. Earlier, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops had already sharply condemned mass deportations and the public devaluation of migrants. Now the perspective widens: Venezuela, Greenland, Ukraine, along with the radical weakening of development aid. All of this raises fundamental questions about when violence is legitimate and what peace actually means. The cardinals explicitly invoke a foundational foreign policy address by the pope, who sharply criticized the use of force to enforce national interests and defended the international legal order. The military must never be a normal instrument of policy, but at most a last resort in extreme situations. Peace cannot be coerced, least of all in the name of one’s own advantage.

The criticism is especially clear regarding the notion that prosperity could be based on inhumane treatment of others. The common good, human dignity, and the right to life are not negotiable values. The massive retreat from development aid is also described as a moral regression, because this aid alleviates hunger worldwide, secures health, and creates stability.

In the end, the cardinals insist that their words are not an act of taking sides, but an invitation. An invitation to politics and society to realign foreign policy with elementary standards of human dignity. Not power, not threats, not military superiority should be decisive, but responsibility. In a time of growing harshness, this is a rare and all the more unmistakable admonition.