Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth faces mounting religious and legal scrutiny after praying publicly for 'overwhelming violence' in God's name, prompting Pope Leo XIV to respond with a Palm Sunday address declaring that Jesus 'rejects war' and that God refuses the prayers of those who wage it.
The confrontation between America's defence chief and the head of the world's largest Christian denomination escalated further on Good Friday, 3 April 2026, when the Pentagon's in-house chapel held a Protestant-only service, the first time in recent memory that no Catholic Mass was offered on one of Christianity's holiest days, a decision that drew immediate frustration from Pentagon staff and fresh questions about Hegseth's approach to faith and military religious life.
