Pope Leo Rebukes Hegseth’s ‘Secretary of War’ Title Change & War Hawk Rhetoric

Former Fox weekend host–turned Trump defense chief draws fire from the first American pope.

When Pope Leo XIV left Castel Gandolfo last night, the questions came fast: an EWTN reporter wanted to know whether Chicago Cardinal Blase Cupich should give a lifetime‑achievement award to pro‑choice Sen. Dick Durbin.

Leo’s answer was what you would expect from a pope who has spent his short pontificate framing Catholic social teaching for an America and world scarred by nativism. “Someone who says I’m against abortion but is in favor of the death penalty is not really pro‑life,” he told the reporters.

“Someone who says I’m against abortion but I’m in agreement with the inhuman treatment of immigrants… I don’t know if that’s pro‑life.”

That same impromptu press conference included an even sharper warning for Donald Trump’s national‑security team.

Asked about Secretary of War Pete Hegseth’s boast that he wanted a military focused on “lethality,” Leo replied that such talk is “worrying.”

He noted that even the title “Minister of War” suggests a troubling acceptance of violence and prayed that it was merely a stylistic quirk rather than a substantive shift.

A pope who spent his formative priestly years marching against war and for peace in Peru was never going to let a retired weekend Fox News host‑turned‑cabinet member drag the Church into a MAGA war hawk posture.

When Leo reminded journalists that government ministers should be guardians of peace and not cheerleaders for war, he signaled that Catholic morality cannot be reduced to abortion politics while ignoring the human cost of bellicose nationalism.

The MAGA backlash to Leo’s pontificate was already unfolding before last night’s presser.

Right‑wing influencers like Michael Knowles have derided the pope’s consistent ethic, defending state executions in defiance of Francis and Leo’s teaching.

The same crowd is enraged that Leo would question Hegseth’s war lust or call out the Trump administration’s record of separating families.

But as Cardinal Robert McElroy reminded worshipers on the World Day of Migrants and Refugees, deportation raids that instill fear and tear apart families are a “governmental assault” on human dignity.

Leo’s allies have been clear that Catholic witness requires standing with the vulnerable even when that means confronting the White House.

For those who have followed Letters from Leo since day one, the pattern is clear. In our piece on Pope Leo’s first interview, we noted how he declined to join any political faction yet vowed to challenge the excesses of nationalism and exclusion.

In the wake of Charlie Kirk’s assassination, we exposed Michael Knowles’s misreading of the catechism and the death penalty.

We highlighted Cardinal McElroy’s homily as part of a growing Catholic pushback against what Leo calls a politics of cruelty.

Leo’s criticism of Hegseth and his insistence that the pro‑life ethic extends to migrants and prisoners fit that narrative.

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