White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Monday that it is appropriate to pray for U.S. troops, in response to Pope Leo XIV’s message that God does not listen to the prayers of “those who wage war.”
“We’ve seen presidents, we’ve seen leaders of the Department of War and we’ve seen our troops go to prayer during the most turbulent times in our nation’s history, and I don’t think there is anything wrong with our military leaders or the president calling on the American people to pray for our service members and those who are serving our country overseas,” Ms. Leavitt said at the White House press briefing.
Pope Leo said during his Palm Sunday homily that Jesus “rejects war” and “does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war, but rejects them.” The pope then quoted scripture where Jesus said, “Even though you make many prayers, I will not listen: your hands are full of blood.”
Some U.S. leaders have invoked Christianity to explain their support of the war. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who leads Christian prayer services at the Pentagon, prayed last week for “overwhelming violence of action against those who deserve no mercy.”
While Pope Leo did not name any specific world leaders or conflict, he has been escalating his criticism of the Iran war in recent weeks. At the end of Sunday’s mass, the pope lamented that Christians in the Middle East “are suffering the consequences of an atrocious conflict” and may not be able to celebrate Easter.
He has also called for an immediate ceasefire in the conflict and called for an end to indiscriminate airstrikes.
