(Jan 19): Three U.S. Catholic archbishops on Monday decried the direction of American foreign policy, saying the country's "moral role in confronting evil around the world" was in question and that military action must only be used as an extreme last resort. Leo, the first U.S. pope, has previously criticized some of U.S. President Donald Trump's policies, in particular on immigration. Citing recent developments in Venezuela, Russia's war in Ukraine and the threats against Greenland by the Trump administration, the archbishops said rights of nations to self-determination appeared "fragile". "The events in Venezuela, Ukraine and Greenland have raised basic questions about the use of military force and the meaning of peace," the clerics said. Saying that the U.S. needs a "genuinely moral foreign policy," the archbishops renounced "war as an instrument for narrow national interests" and said that "military action must be seen only as a last resort in extreme situations, not a normal instrument of national policy."
