Archbishop Timothy Broglio of the Archdiocese for the Military Services of the United States expressed relief that the United States and Iran entered into a two-week ceasefire, but maintained concerns about Lebanon’s exclusion from the agreement.
“Obviously I’m happy for anything that can lead us to peace,” Broglio told anchor Veronica Dudo in a pre-recorded interview on “EWTN News Nightly” on April 8 at 11:30 a.m. ET.
“I’m happy that at least both sides are talking to each other and perhaps finding solutions to avoid any kind of armed conflict and perhaps bring back tensions in the region,” he said.
President Donald Trump announced on April 7 that he would halt further attacks as the two countries negotiate a long-term peace.
Part of the ceasefire agreement is that Iran will keep the Strait of Hormuz open. Iranian media reports on Wednesday afternoon claimed Iran had again closed the strait because of Israeli attacks on Lebanon. White House press secretary Carolyn Leavitt called the reports “unacceptable”, but the ceasefire remains in place at the time of publication.
The ceasefire suspended Trump’s plans to destroy Iran’s power plants and bridges just hours after he threatened that “an entire civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back.”
Although he expressed some relief for potential progress, Broglio said in the interview that there is “real concern” about the exclusion of Lebanon, and that it is “problematic that it is not a holistic view of the entire region,” because the Middle East has been “a tinderbox for a long time.”
Broglio said, “It would be helpful that any type of peace negotiations include all participants and all those who may be either belligerents or victims of any type of military action.”
The archbishop said that the talks “should have taken place before any type of military action took place” and added that the United States had not been directly attacked before launching a military attack on Iran, and that he believed that, based on Catholic just war theory, some elements were missing to justify a US attack.
“It’s a long process because tensions are very high and emotions are very strong in that part of the world,” he said. “But I think certainly what Pope Leo has said… is that we really have to sit down and negotiate rather than watch men and women sacrifice their lives for the sake of armed conflict. And I think it is necessary to enter into the process of negotiation, which certainly means that everybody has to give up something.”
Broglio said he hoped religious figures would bring to these talks “the notion of dialogue, the notion of understanding, an effort to listen to each other.”
He said, “I think it will be a valuable contribution to the discourse because the three great monotheistic religions are involved in that area.” “I think we can bring something to bear.”
Broglio said the archdiocese is united with Pope Leo XIV’s call for Catholics to pray for peace in the region. The Holy Father announced on Easter that he would lead a prayer vigil for peace in St. Peter’s Basilica on April 11.
“We would certainly encourage people to pray for peace,” Broglio said. “We are more interested in peace than others because the men and women I have had the privilege of serving know what the cost of war is.”
Spiritual needs of soldiers
With many U.S. troops deployed throughout the Middle East as negotiations continue, Broglio said the archdiocese is “working to meet spiritual needs with those priests who are actually in the Middle East right now.”
“I know they’re working very hard to answer some of the questions men and women have,” he said. “They’re bringing accolades for themselves. And also, most of the families that were in the region, like those that were in Bahrain, have been brought home. So (the soldiers’ families) are either in Europe or they’ve come back to the United States.”
“But obviously they are separated from their loved ones. So that’s another area where some ministerial support is needed,” the archbishop said. “And there also has to be some ability to listen and try to console them in this time of isolation. If you think about people who have gone to a place and then are completely uprooted, it’s a very difficult situation for them. And so they certainly also need the comfort of the sacraments and the counsel that clergy can bring.”
