Cardinals Blase Cupich of Chicago, Robert McElroy of Washington, D.C., and Joseph Tobin of Newark, N.J. are the only three U.S. cardinals currently leading dioceses. In a joint conversation with CBS News' 60 Minutes, they offered candid takes on the war in Iran, deportations, and the moral moment facing the Church in America.
“We listen to a lot of people. It's part of the job description,” Cardinal Tobin said.
What they are hearing is exactly why they’re speaking up. The interview aired on Sunday evening (some hours before US President Donald Trump posted on social media about Pope Leo).
“What we're seeing as pastors is an enormous, profound level of human suffering. And that's what motivates us,” Cardinal McElroy said.
The cardinals’ takes
The cardinals gave frank thoughts on various cultural issues.
Regarding the war in Iran, Cardinal McElroy said, “Under Catholic teaching, this is not a just war.”
Even beyond the war itself, the cardinals decried the “gamification” of war that makes light of life and death. Cardinal Cupich said:
We’re dehumanizing the victims of war by turning the suffering of people and the killing of children and our own soldiers into entertainment. To splice together movie cuts with actual bombing and targeting of people for the purposes of entertainment is sickening. This is not who we are. We’re better than this.
The cardinals raised concerns about the U.S. becoming embedded in endless conflict, as Cardinal McElroy said:
[Iran’s is] an abominable regime, and it should be removed. But this is a war of choice that we went to, and I think it’s embedded in a wider moment in the United States that’s worrying, which is this: We’re seeing before us the possibility of war after war after war.
Cardinal Tobin doubled down on previously calling ICE “a lawless organization,” clarifying his position:
I didn't say that they were people without law. But when people act in this way, when they have to hide their identities to terrify people, when they can actually violate other guarantees of our Constitution and Bill of Rights, well I think somebody's got to call that out. And I'm not the only one.
Interviewer Norah O’Donnell, CBS News correspondent and 60 Minutes contributor, asked them about Pope Leo — especially in regard to rising rates of Catholic converts around the world and the Pope’s repeated calls for peace.
“He's the pastor of the world,” Cardinal Tobin said.
Cardinal Tobin explained:
I've had the privilege of working closely with four popes, very different people in a lot of ways. But each one in some way was the right one for that moment in time. I believe that Pope Leo is the right man at this time.
Not a new message
Although some seem to find it surprising, calls for peace are hardly a revolutionary message from the Vicar of Christ.
What of those who consider that the Church meddles in politics? O'Donnell asked that very question, saying, “What do you say to people in the pews who say, ‘I don't want to hear politics from my priest’?”
Cardinal Cupich replied that speaking out for peace is nothing more than the Gospel message of Christ:
I say fine. I want to preach the gospel. God wants us to promote peace in the world, because his desire is that we be one human family.
The episode can be viewed here.
