"Your Hands Are Full of Blood": Pope Leo Rebukes Hegseth's War Prayers on Palm Sunday

During Palm Sunday Mass at St. Peter's Square on March 29, 2026, Pope Leo XIV — in one of his first major addresses since succeeding Pope Francis — delivered a pointed rebuke of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's practice of holding evangelical worship services at the Pentagon to justify the Iran war.

The Pope quoted Isaiah 1:15 directly:

"Even though you make many prayers, I will not listen: your hands are full of blood."

He told the thousands gathered: "This is our God: Jesus, King of Peace, who rejects war, whom no one can use to justify war."

The rebuke was unmistakable. Hegseth had been holding monthly Pentagon worship services where he:

• Prayed for "overwhelming violence" against "those who deserve no mercy"
• Called on listeners to pray that God help troops "rain violence and death on the enemy"
• Prayed that "wicked souls" be "delivered to eternal damnation"
• Said: "Let every round find its mark against the enemies of righteousness"
• Invited Christian nationalist pastor Doug Wilson to preach at the Pentagon
• Told commanders to tell troops Trump was "anointed by Jesus to cause Armageddon"

The head of the world's 1.4 billion Catholics responded: the God you're praying to rejects your prayers. Your hands are full of blood. No one can use Jesus to justify war.

This was the second consecutive pope to rebuke the Trump administration's treatment of faith. Pope Francis — whose final public act was denouncing "contempt towards migrants" hours after meeting JD Vance — had already corrected Vance's theology on "ordered love." Pope Leo continued the tradition on his first Palm Sunday.

Trump erupted on Truth Social in response. The White House dismissed the Pope's remarks.