Tipsheet

After Losing Government Immigration Money, Catholic Bishops Question America’s ‘Moral Role’

Amy Curtis
Amy Curtis  |  January 20, 2026 12:30 PM

Almost as soon as President Trump took office, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) came out against his immigration policies, and Vice President Vance explained the problem with their stance. But their objections are more base than that. In 2023, half of the USCCB's revenue came from $129 million in government contracts meant to resettle illegal immigrants in America.

That's a big chunk of change to lose out on.

Now, some Catholic clerics are coming out against the U.S. and its role in "confronting evil around the world," saying it's in question "for the first time in decades."

Here's more:

The three highest-ranking Roman Catholic clerics who lead archdioceses in the United States said in a strongly worded statement on Monday that America’s “moral role in confronting evil around the world” is in question for the first time in decades. Their critique of the Trump administration’s principles — while not mentioning President Trump by name — escalates the American Catholic Church’s denunciations of the country’s top leaders.

In 2026, the country has entered “the most profound and searing debate about the moral foundation for America’s actions in the world since the end of the Cold War,” read the unusual statement issued by Cardinal Blase Cupich, archbishop of Chicago; Cardinal Robert McElroy, archbishop of Washington; and Cardinal Joseph Tobin, archbishop of Newark.

Citing recent events in Venezuela, Ukraine and Greenland as having raised fundamental questions about the use of military force, the cardinals call for a “genuinely moral foreign policy” in which “military action must be seen only as a last resort in extreme situations, not a normal instrument of national policy.”

The cardinals did not delve into policy details, and declined to offer specifics about the countries mentioned in the statement. They specifically frame their statement as a message larger than partisan categories. But the context is clear. The president has threatened to take over Greenland “the hard way.” In Venezuela, the Trump administration has ordered U.S. troops to attack boats it says traffic in narcotics, and U.S. forces captured and extracted President Nicolás Maduro and his wife without authorization by Congress.

Just so we're clear here: the supposed Catholic President who supported abortion up to birth, who removed all guardrails from mail-order abortion drugs, and who allowed Russia to take over Ukraine while letting Afghanistan fall to the Taliban wasn't the problem? The Nobel Prize-winning President who droned American citizens overseas while allowing Russia, Iran, and other bad actors to gain power wasn't the problem?


We guess it's (D)ifferent when they do it.

Of course, Cardinal Cupich was just complaining about how Democrats in Illinois are trying to force Catholics in the state to perform abortions. But Trump is the problem, we guess.

This, sadly, is the truth.

"They have ZERO moral standing. Shameful," Thiessen wrote.

This is correct. For years, people complained about the U.S. being the world's police, but never complained about the billions of tax dollars we sent around the globe.