(Read the original statement here)<\/a><\/p>\n\u201cIn 2026, the United States has entered into the most profound and searing debate about the moral foundation for America\u2019s actions in the world since the end of the Cold War,\u201d they wrote.<\/p>\n
The Cardinals said recent events in Venezuela, Ukraine, and Greenland raise \u201cbasic questions about the use of military force and the meaning of peace.\u201d<\/p>\n
They highlighted the sovereign right of nations to self-determination, saying this principle appears increasingly fragile in the current conflictual geopolitics.<\/p>\n
Efforts for just and sustainable peace have been subjected to partisanship, polarization, and destructive policies, despite peace being crucial to humanity\u2019s well-being, said the three Cardinals.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur country\u2019s moral role in confronting evil around the world, sustaining the right to life and human dignity, and supporting religious liberty are all under examination,\u201d they noted.<\/p>\n
Given this situation, the Cardinals said Pope Leo\u2019s \u201cState of the World\u201d address on January 9 offers a \u201ctruly moral foundation\u201d for international relations and a pathway for American foreign policy.<\/p>\n
In his speech to diplomats, the Pope lamented the weakness of multilateralism and the failure of diplomacy to seek dialogue and consensus among opposing sides.<\/p>\n
\u201cWar is back in vogue and a zeal for war is spreading,\u201d said Pope Leo. \u201cThe principle established after the Second World War, which prohibited nations from using force to violate the borders of others, has been completely undermined. Peace is no longer sought as a gift and desirable good in itself\u2026 Instead, peace is sought through weapons as a condition for asserting one\u2019s own dominion.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cardinals Cupich, McElroy, and Tobin recalled the Pope\u2019s reference to Catholic teaching, which he said must protect the right to life since that rights serves as the \u201cindispensable foundation for every other human right.\u201d<\/p>\n
With him, they called for wealthy nations to provide humanitarian aid in order to safeguard human dignity of those who suffer, and lamented the rise in violation of conscience and religious freedom in the name of ideological or religious purity.<\/p>\n
The American Cardinals therefore called for a \u201cgenuinely moral foreign policy for our nation,\u201d expressing their desire to build \u201ca truly just and lasting peace,\u201d which Jesus proclaimed in the Gospel.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe renounce war as an instrument for narrow national interests and proclaim that military action must be seen only as a last resort in extreme situations, not a normal instrument of national policy,\u201d they said. \u201cWe seek a foreign policy that respects and advances the right to human life, religious liberty, and the enhancement of human dignity throughout the world, especially through economic assistance.\u201d<\/p>\n
In conclusion, the three Cardinals said Pope Leo has offered the United States a prism through which to overcome the \u201cpolarization, partisanship, and narrow economic and social interests\u201d that currently inhibit the country\u2019s debate on its own moral foundation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ten days after Pope Leo XIV\u2019s \u2018State of the World\u2019 address, American Cardinals Cupich, McElroy, and Tobin release…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":418736,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[23,200166,58858,1930,3,19431,21,19,22,20,25,24],"class_list":{"0":"post-418735","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-united-states","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-blase-joseph-cupich","10":"tag-cardinals","11":"tag-diplomacy","12":"tag-news","13":"tag-pope-leo-xiv","14":"tag-united-states","15":"tag-united-states-of-america","16":"tag-unitedstates","17":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","18":"tag-us","19":"tag-usa"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/418735","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=418735"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/418735\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/418736"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=418735"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=418735"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=418735"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}