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Pope Leo XIV leads a mass for Palm Sunday at St. Peter’s Square in the Vatican on March 29, 2026.Massimo Valicchia\/AP<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\tGet your news from a source that\u2019s not owned and controlled by oligarchs. Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily.<\/a><\/p>\n On Sunday, Pope Leo said that God refuses the prayers of leaders who have \u201chands full of blood,\u201d in what appeared to be a direct rebuke to many Trump administration officials, including Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who have invoked religious rhetoric to justify their war with Iran.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is our God: Jesus, King of Peace, who rejects war, whom no one can use to justify war,\u201d Leo said to thousands of people attending his Palm Sunday mass at St. Peter\u2019s Square<\/a>. \u201cHe does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war, but rejects them.\u201d<\/p>\n The pope has made repeated<\/a> calls<\/a> for an immediate ceasefire in Iran and, last Monday, said military airstrikes should be banned<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cThousands of innocent people have been killed, and many others have been forced to abandon their homes,\u201d Leo said earlier this month<\/a>. \u201cI renew my prayerful closeness to all those who have lost their loved ones in the attacks that have struck schools, hospitals, and residential areas.\u201d<\/p>\n While the pope\u2019s remarks have not identified anyone specific, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has been at the forefront of mingling his Christian faith with his prosecution of the Iran war. On Wednesday, Hegseth prayed<\/a> at the Pentagon in front of military and civilian workers for US troops to deliver \u201coverwhelming violence of action against those who deserve no mercy.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe ask these things in bold confidence in the mighty and powerful name of Jesus Christ,\u201d he continued<\/a>.<\/p>\n Hegseth has been open about his support for a Christian crusade. As my colleague Kiera Butler pointed out<\/a> when Donald Trump nominated him for secretary of defense in November 2024, Hegseth published a book in 2020 titled American Crusade, which discussed<\/a> the destruction of Muslim holy sites to reclaim them for Christianity.<\/p>\n Kiera also highlighted<\/a> Hegseth\u2019s tattoos, including a Jerusalem cross on his chest, which Matthew Taylor, a religion scholar at the Institute for Islamic, Christian, and Jewish Studies, told her is a reference to the Christian crusades. According to Taylor, another Hegseth tattoo<\/a> of the words \u201cDeus Vult\u201d\u2014Latin for \u201cGod wills it\u201d\u2014signifies that \u201cGod mandated Crusaders\u2019 violence.\u201d<\/p>\n