Trump administration officials are increasingly employing religious symbolism to justify the Iran war and other unpopular policies, according to New York Times correspondent Maggie Haberman.
President Donald Trump posted an image depicting himself as a Christlike healer, while Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has framed the conflict in explicitly religious terms and quoted Bible verses during press updates, though one quote was actually dialogue from a Quentin Tarantino film.
Pope Leo XIV condemned "warmongers" who "manipulate religion" to justify violence.
Vice President JD Vance, a recent Catholic convert, responded by warning the pope to "be careful" with criticism.
Haberman suggested Vance faces complications given his sincere Catholic faith and upcoming book on religion, noting the conflict with the pope is "not a winning debate" for the administration.
"This is unlike anything really that we have seen in, in ever in the last, at least in the last 80 years and possibly, you know, ever in decades upon decades," Haberman said, explaining it "goes off the rails" by framing warfare as a religious mission.
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