Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth thinks America is doing God’s work by bombing Iran. He wears his Crusader thinking, next to images of firearms, on the flesh of his right arm:
“Deus Vult,” reads the tattoo inked across Hegseth’s right biceps. It’s a Latin phrase meaning “God wills it” that is believed to have been chanted by the Christian warriors who responded to Pope Urban II’s call in 1095 to march to the Holy Land and reconquer it for Christendom [Julia Carrie Wong, “Pete Hegseth’s Holy War: The Militant Christian Theology Animating the US Attack on Iran,” The Guardian, 2026.04.10].
The current Pope interprets God’s will quite differently:
God does not bless any conflict. Anyone who is a disciple of Christ, the Prince of Peace, is never on the side of those who once wielded the sword and today drop bombs. Military action will not create space for freedom or times of #Peace, which comes only from the patient promotion of coexistence and dialogue among peoples [Pope Leo XIV, tweet, 2026.04.10].
Pope Leo finds war and business both antithetical to Christian values:
Absurd and inhuman violence is spreading ferociously through the sacred places of the Christian East, profaned by the blasphemy of war and the brutality of business, with no regard for people’s lives, which are considered at most collateral damage of self-interest. But no gain can be worth the life of the weakest, children, or families. No cause can justify the shedding of innocent blood [Pope Leo XIV, tweet, 2026.04.10].
Instead of throwing bombs, Pope Leo says Christians should be sharing wealth to end poverty:
Hundreds of millions of people throughout the world are immersed in extreme poverty. Yet, disproportionate wealth remains in the hands of a few. It is an unjust scenario, in the face of which we cannot fail to question ourselves and commit to change things. There is no lack of resources at the root of disparities, but the need to address solvable problems related to a more equitable distribution of wealth, to be achieved with moral sense and honesty [Pope Leo XIV, tweet, 2026.04.10].
Pope Leo is holding a prayer vigil for peace at St. Peter’s Basilica today:
The peace that Jesus gives us is not merely the silence of weapons, but the peace that touches and transforms the heart of each one of us! Let us allow ourselves to be transformed by the peace of Christ! Let us make heard the cry for peace that springs from our hearts! For this reason, I invite everyone to join me in a prayer vigil for peace that we will celebrate here in Saint Peter’s Basilica next Saturday, April 11.
On this day of celebration, let us abandon every desire for conflict, domination, and power, and implore the Lord to grant his peace to a world ravaged by wars and marked by a hatred and indifference that make us feel powerless in the face of evil. To the Lord we entrust all hearts that suffer and await the true peace that only he can give. Let us entrust ourselves to him and open our hearts to him! He is the only one who makes all things new [Pope Leo XIV, invitation, reprinted by Comunione e Liberazione, 2026.04.10].
The Pope begins the vigil at at 6 p.m. Rome time. That’s 11 a.m. Central, and 9 p.m. in Islamabad, where we may hope atheist turned professing Catholic Vice-President JD Vance takes a moment to clean the Christo-fascist Hegsethian wax out of his ears and to listen to the Holy Father’s call to truer, peaceful Christianity.
For generations the conventional wisdom among catholics of all stripes was that the only way an American would become pope was when America began to decline and here we are.
The Order of the Presentation opened St. Mary’s in Elkton where I attended grade school but the nuns were from the Dominican and Benedictine Orders, too. They were Commies who taught us Pete Seeger, Woody Guthrie and Puff, the Magic Dragon.