Broglio: US troops could refuse Greenland orders

The archbishop of the U.S. military services said U.S. troops in good conscience could refuse orders to invade an ally.

The archbishop of the U.S. military services said Sunday that he does not believe military action to take control of Greenland could be justified – and that U.S. troops in good conscience could refuse orders to do so.

Archbishop Timothy Broglio speaks with reporters at a press gaggle at the USCCB plenary assembly June 15. Credit: Ed Condon/The Pillar.

Speaking to the BBC on Jan. 18. Archbishop Timothy Broglio of the Archdiocese for the Military Services said he “cannot see any circumstances” in which an American military operation to take control of Greenland or another ally’s territory could fulfill the criteria for a just war.

The archbishop also said administration rhetoric on Greenland “tarnishes the image of the United States.”

Broglio previous served in the Holy See’s Secretariat of State as a Vatican diplomat, including as Apostolic Nuncio to the Dominican Republic and Apostolic Delegate to Puerto Rico.

The archbishop was also previously elected as president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops; his term as head of the USCCB ended in November of last year.

Asked whether he is concerned about Catholics serving in the military who might be asked to participate in a military operation to take control of Greenland, Broglio responded, “I am obviously worried, because they could be put in a situation where they’re being ordered to do something which is morally questionable.”

“And it would be very difficult for a soldier or a Marine or a sailor by himself to disobey an order such as that,” he continued. “But strictly speaking, he or she, within the realm of their own conscience, it would be morally acceptable to disobey that order. But that’s perhaps putting that individual in an untenable situation, and that’s my concern.”

Houses in Sisimiut, Greenland. Credit: Alamy.

Asked if he was “laying out red lines” for the Trump administration, the archbishop said he does not know whether “the powers that be” are open to listening to admonitions from Catholic leaders, but said he believes it is his duty to speak up.

Broglio’s comments come amid rising international tensions, as U.S. President Donald Trump continues to repeat demands for “complete and total control of Greenland.”

Trump has insisted that Denmark sell Greenland to the United States while making continued references to the U.S. taking control of the territory “the hard way” if necessary. Over the weekend, he threatened to impose tariffs on Denmark and a number of other European nations until a sale of the territory had been approved.

Trump’s comments have raised alarm both among members of Congress and European leaders.

The White House has said that military force is “an option” in acquiring Greenland. Asked by NBC News on Monday whether he would go as far as using force to take the territory, the president responded “No comment.”

And in a message to the Norwegian prime minister over the weekend, Trump wrote, “Considering your Country decided not to give me the Nobel Peace Prize for having stopped 8 Wars PLUS, I no longer feel an obligation to think purely of Peace.”

In an interview earlier this month, Trump was asked about the limits of his power to act globally.

The president responded that the only thing that limits him is “my own morality,” also saying, “I don’t need international law.”

Broglio said he is concerned by both Trump’s rhetoric and actions on foreign policy.

“We do have international law and we do have, obviously, moral principles that should guide all of us,” he said in response to a question about Trump’s reference to being guided or constrained by his personal morality rather than international law and norms.

“Greenland is a territory of Denmark. Denmark is an ally. It’s part of NATO. It does not seem really reasonable that the United States would attack and occupy a friendly nation.”

While Trump says acquiring Greenland is necessary for national security — specifically for the construction of his planned Golden Dome missile defense program — Broglio noted that “we already have treaties there that allow for a military installation in Greenland.”

The archbishop said Trump’s threatening stance toward Greenland “tarnishes the image of the United States in our world.”

Last month, Broglio released a statement criticizing the United States’ deliberate killing of all personnel on a vessel believed to be carrying drugs.

He noted Catholic teaching that “the end never justifies the means,” and that “it would be an illegal and immoral order to kill deliberately survivors on a vessel who pose no immediate lethal threat to our armed forces.”

He argued that the U.S. could have intercepted the vessel suspected of carrying illegal drugs, and then arrested people on board and allowed them to be tried in a court of law.

Addressing the same instance on Sunday, the archbishop told the BBC in his Jan. 18 interview that “Navy personnel, and military personnel in general, are a responsibility of mine as pastor for Catholics in the military. And so I was concerned that men and women under my charge were being forced to be engaged in situations that are certainly not necessary.”

Broglio is not alone in voicing concern about the United States’ approach to international affairs.

In a joint statement released Jan. 19, three U.S. cardinals warned that “[T]he United States has entered into the most profound and searing debate about the moral foundation for America’s actions in the world since the end of the Cold War.”

Cardinals Blase Cupich of Chicago, Robert McElroy of Washington, and Joseph Tobin of Newark lamented that basic questions about national sovereignty, the common good, and the meaning of peace are all being debated, often in narrow partisan terms.

“Our country’s moral role in confronting evil around the world, sustaining the right to life and human dignity, and supporting religious liberty are all under examination,” they warned. “And the building of just and sustainable peace, so crucial to humanity’s well-being now and in the future, is being reduced to partisan categories that encourage polarization and destructive policies.”

The cardinals pointed to Pope Leo’s recent address to the Vatican diplomatic corps, in which he warned that “A diplomacy that promotes dialogue and seeks consensus among all parties is being replaced by a diplomacy based on force, by either individuals or groups of allies.”

“War is back in vogue and a zeal for war is spreading. The principle established after the Second World War, which prohibited nations from using force to violate the borders of others, has been completely undermined,” Leo said. “[P]eace is sought through weapons as a condition for asserting one’s own dominion.”

Cupich, McElroy, and Tobin called for the pope’s words to become “an enduring ethical compass for establishing the pathway for American foreign policy in the coming years.” They noted that the pope voiced concern about a range of violations against human dignity, including war, abortion and euthanasia, eliminating humanitarian assistance programs, and threats to religious freedom.

“As pastors and citizens, we embrace this vision for the establishment of a genuinely moral foreign policy for our nation,” the cardinals said. “We seek to build a truly just and lasting peace, that peace which Jesus proclaimed in the Gospel.”

“We renounce war as an instrument for narrow national interests and proclaim that military action must be seen only as a last resort in extreme situations, not a normal instrument of national policy,” they continued.

“We seek a foreign policy that respects and advances the right to human life, religious liberty, and the enhancement of human dignity throughout the world, especially through economic assistance.”