US bishops’ leader rebukes Trump after he threatens Iran’s ‘whole civilization will die tonight’

President Donald Trump threatened a “whole civilization will die tonight” if Iran does not make a deal by 8 p.m. EDT on April 7 — a statement that drew a stark rebuke within hours from the leader of the U.S. Catholic bishops, who invoked Pope Leo XIV’s recent appeals for peace as he called on the president “to step back from the precipice.”

In a post that same day on his social media website, Truth Social, Trump said, “A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again. I don’t want that to happen, but it probably will.”

“However, now that we have Complete and Total Regime Change, where different, smarter, and less radicalized minds prevail, maybe something revolutionarily wonderful can happen, WHO KNOWS?” Trump said. “We will find out tonight, one of the most important moments in the long and complex history of the World. 47 years of extortion, corruption, and death, will finally end. God Bless the Great People of Iran!”

Trump made similar comments at an April 6 press briefing at the White House, telling journalists, “The entire country can be taken out in one night, and that night might be tomorrow night.”

In his statement, Archbishop Paul S. Coakley of Oklahoma City, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said, “The threat of destroying a whole civilization and the intentional targeting of civilian infrastructure cannot be morally justified. There are other ways to resolve conflict between peoples.”

He cited Pope Leo XIV’s calls for peace during Holy Week and Easter, and said, “I call on President Trump to step back from the precipice of war and negotiate a just settlement for the sake of peace and before more lives are lost.”

The U.S. and Israel initiated combat operations against Iran Feb. 28 that killed Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and other key Iranian political and military officials in the war’s beginning.

Trump has argued the regime presented grave nuclear threats, and pointed to “the specter of nuclear blackmail” in an April 1 address about the conflict from the White House.

In response to the attacks, Iran effectively shut down the Strait of Hormuz, a key oil trade route, by striking ships there. The closure of the strait has led to a significant spike in energy costs.

Polls conducted throughout the first month of the conflict — dubbed Operation Epic Fury — show most U.S. adults are opposed to it, with energy costs one of the factors driving that opposition.

Speaking in Hungary April 7, Vice President JD Vance, who is Catholic, suggested the Iranians are engaged in “economic terrorism” and said, “We’ve got tools in our toolkit that we so far haven’t decided to use.”

In reference to the president’s post, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., wrote on X that “This is an extremely sick person.”

“Each Republican who refuses to join us in voting against this wanton war of choice owns every consequence of whatever the hell this is,” he said.

Democrats in Congress have tried and failed in both chambers to advance a war powers resolution that would have curtailed Trump’s military actions in Iran. A resolution that would have expressed the disapproval of Congress failed in the Senate on March 4 and the House on March 5 along mostly party lines.

In an interview with “Face the Nation” taped April 2 and that aired on Easter, Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio of the U.S. Archdiocese for the Military Services questioned the legitimacy of America’s war in Iran, arguing that the war is likely not justified under Catholic teaching on legitimate defense by military means, sometimes called just war theory.

Archbishop Broglio said that under the just war theory, he was concerned the U.S. military action in Iran was “compensating for a threat” before the threat “is actually realized.”

In his Easter comments, Pope Leo issued a sharp rebuke of war. He said, “In the light of Easter, let us allow ourselves to be amazed by Christ!”

“Let us allow our hearts to be transformed by his immense love for us! Let those who have weapons lay them down! Let those who have the power to unleash wars choose peace! Not a peace imposed by force, but through dialogue! Not with the desire to dominate others, but to encounter them!” he said April 5.

Pope Leo also said he will host a prayer vigil for peace in St. Peter’s Basilica on Saturday, April 11.

“On this day of celebration, let us abandon every desire for conflict, domination, and power, and implore the Lord to grant his peace to a world ravaged by wars and marked by a hatred and indifference that make us feel powerless in the face of evil,” he said. “To the Lord we entrust all hearts that suffer and await the true peace that only he can give.”

Noting the pontiff’s planned vigil for peace, Archbishop Coakley in his own statement said, “I make a special plea to my brother bishops, the priests, the laity, and all people yearning for true peace to join the Holy Father’s Vigil for Peace, whether virtually, or in parishes, chapels, or before the Lord present in the quiet of their hearts to join with our Holy Father as we pray for peace in our world.”

Quoting Pope Leo’s own words, the USCCB president added, “Let us entrust to the Lord ‘all hearts that suffer and await the true peace that only he can give. Let us entrust ourselves to him and open our hearts to him! He is the only one who makes all things new (cf. Rev 21:5).'”

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