Pope Leo XIV, the first American pope and a Chicago-born Augustinian friar, has apparently been following the news. And he has some notes for Pete Hegseth.
During Palm Sunday Mass at St. Peter’s Square, the pope addressed — without naming names, though the names were very clearly named — the recent trend of invoking God’s favor for military violence. “Jesus, King of Peace, who rejects war, whom no one can use to justify war,” Leo said. “He does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war, but rejects them.” He added that God refuses the prayers of leaders who have “hands full of blood.”
This was delivered roughly five days after Hegseth held a Pentagon prayer service in which he asked God to deliver enemies to “eternal damnation” and ensure that every military round “find its mark.” The pope did not specifically mention Hegseth. He didn’t have to.
The spectacle of a Chicago man becoming pope and then immediately having to correct the U.S. Secretary of Defense’s theology is not something anyone had on their 2026 bingo card. And yet here we are, watching the Vicar of Christ deploy a Palm Sunday homily like a very pointed subtweet.
The pope also called on Trump to find an “off-ramp” to end the Iran war. The White House did not immediately respond.
All of this actually happened. PBS NewsHour confirmed it.