LEO, BROGLIO, AND THE IRAN WAR

The perspective of a retired military chaplain

Let’s pretend the Israelis and the Americans did not attack Iran in 2026, and it’s now 2029. A very somber, newly elected, Democratic U.S. President appears on TV after Iran, perceiving the new Commander-in-Chief to be a weak leader, detonated a nuclear bomb in New York City, killing and wounding millions of people. After years of blaming President Donald Trump and Republicans for all the problems in the country and the world, will the new President and Pope Leo XIV now blame Trump and his Party for failing to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons?

Different people have weighed in on whether the current war in Iran meets the conditions of a just war according to teachings formulated by theologians like St. Augustine (354-430) and St. Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274).

The Just War Theory can be divided into two parts: jus ad bellum, which concerns the ethics of declaring war; and jus in bello, which addresses how combatants must act during armed conflict.

The jus ad bellum criteria include:

1. The cause must be just (e.g., Military action is undertaken to resist aggression, protect the innocent, or to support the rights of some oppressed group).

2. Wars must be fought only on legitimate authority (e.g., U.S. presidents and Congress have historically sanctioned the use of military force).

3. The war must have the right intention (e.g., It must advance the good; avoid evil; have clear aims; and be open to negotiation).

4. Last resort (e.g., It is waged after other attempts to secure peace have failed).

5. Probability of success and justice (e.g., There should be a good chance of overthrowing a tyrannical dictator).

The rules of jus in bello aim to confine the destructiveness of war, rule out certain kinds of weapons, protect civilians, and limit the area and range of fighting.

When I was a chaplain on staff at the U.S. Naval Academy (1982-84), I taught midshipmen of my regiment a course in ethics that addressed, among a number of topics, the just war theory, and the duty of an officer to disobey an unlawful order. While this was theoretical to me at that time, it was at my next tour of duty that I gained combat experience when I served on the U.S. Sixth Fleet staff in the Mediterranean during our two attacks on Libya in March 1986 and April 1986. I shared a stateroom aboard the aircraft carrier, USS AMERICA (CV-66), with a U.S. Air Force liaison officer who lost two friends who were crewmembers aboard an F-111 that was shot down over the Gulf of Sidra during Operation El Dorado Canyon. That operation was undertaken in retaliation for the West Berlin discotheque bombing which U.S. intelligence sources traced to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.

I was on the bridge of the flagship when President Ronald Reagan called Vice Admiral Frank B. Kelso II, the Commander of the Sixth Fleet, to congratulate him on the way he executed the attacks with minimal loss of life. Not only was our military response to the attacks made by Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi proportional, but the justification of our actions was validated by the dramatic decrease in terrorist activities that had been increasing before our military response.

Vice Admiral Frank B. Kelso II and then-Lieutenant Commander Gene Thomas Gomulka

Pope Leo XIV and different U.S. Bishops have questioned the righteousness of the Iran conflict. Archbishop Timothy Broglio, the head of the Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA, told CBS News that while “Iran was a threat with nuclear arms,” waging war on the theocratic state constituted “compensating for a threat before a threat is actually realized.”

It is obvious that Pope Leo, Archbishop Broglio, and most critical bishops were born after December 7, 1941. It was the successful British preemptive attack on the Italian Fleet in Taranto on November 11, 1940, that inspired the Japanese to undertake their surprise attack on Pearl Harbor that would have been even more devastating had the US carriers been in port at that time. If President Trump never attempted to prevent Iranian leaders from developing nuclear weapons and they were to nuke Washington, DC, or New York City, what might Pope Leo or Archbishop Broglio have to say? A preemptive strike may sometimes be justified before a threat is “actually realized” and hundreds, thousands, and even millions of people die.

While I cannot predict the outcome of the war at this time, I believe the President’s critics, including the Pope and some U.S. Bishops, will be proven wrong if the tyrannical Iranian leadership is overthrown; if Iran is prevented from making nuclear weapons; and if the country ceases to be the world’s leading sponsor of state terrorism.

I question the moral credibility of both Leo and Broglio when I can’t find evidence that they ever spoke out against the widespread massacres of protestors by the government of Iran. The total death toll is currently estimated at over 30,000.

In response to Pope Leo, who said that God “does not listen” to leaders who start wars, I would say that God “does not listen” to popes and bishops who engage in and cover up the abuse of children and persons in vulnerable situations. After almost a year in office, Leo has yet to discipline over 160 bishops credibly accused of sexual abuse and misconduct.

Archbishop Broglio was documented by investigative reporter, David Hammer, from WWLTV in New Orleans, to have covered up for sexual predators like US Air Force Chaplain Brian Highfill. Broglio also lied in writing, claiming that Navy Chaplain John “Matt” Lee, currently serving a 30-year prison sentence, was reported for “probable homosexual orientation” when, in fact, he was reported five years before his arrest for his promiscuous homosexual behavior in Pearl Harbor, HI. Also, while serving as President of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), Broglio said nothing as the Catholic bishops and NGOs like Catholic Charities were making billions from the trafficking of illegal immigrants, including over 300,000 missing migrant children.

Based upon episcopal appointments and promotions by Pope Francis and Pope Leo, it is eminently clear that clerics who cover up sexual predation and clerical homosexual misconduct are rewarded, while clerics who report or speak out against abuse are never promoted, removed from their posts, laicized, or even excommunicated. Had then-San Diego Bishop Robert McElroy revealed that Pope Francis covered up the incriminating July 28, 2016, letter about McCarrick from the late Richard Sipe that McElroy had forwarded to him, I hardly doubt that McElroy would have been made a cardinal only later to be made the Archbishop of Washington.

McElroy told America magazine in November 2018 that he “passed on [Sipe’s letter] to the proper governing bodies in Rome.” However, in an effort to protect Francis from being accused of covering up for McCarrick, McElroy later changed his story by telling a National Catholic Reporter (NCR) journalist in March 2025 that he “declined to pass along unsubstantiated hearsay allegations,” which is how he described Sipe’s letter. The fact that Sipe’s 2016 communication was never mentioned in the McCarrick Report shows that the Vatican Report was a whitewash designed to cover up for Pope Francis whom Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò accused of protecting McCarrick in his “Testimony” of August 2018.

In 2005, then-Monsignor Kevin Vann covered up and lied for then-Springfield Bishop George Lucas who had been accused of hosting a gay orgy at his episcopal residence. Vann’s reward was to be made the Bishop of Fort Worth and later the Bishop of Orange where he has been serving since 2012. After reading the comments made by Archbishop Broglio about the conflict in Iran which quote Pope Leo, one might be led to question if his motive for speaking out is to prevent Catholic U.S. military personnel from dying in combat, or to gain favor with Leo and be promoted for his loyalty to a See like Chicago or Los Angeles? The fact that no diocese in the U.S. is believed to have covered up as much abuse as the Archdiocese for the Military Services should also help Broglio be awarded a red hat unlike Dublin Archbishop Diarmuid Martin who was never made a cardinal after he had turned over 80,000 chancery files to the Murphy Commission documenting decades of abuse cover-ups by his three predecessors.

Will the war in Iran prove to be successful in reducing the threat of a future nuclear attack and removing a despotic regime that has murdered tens of thousands of its own people? Will Pope Leo reward Archbishop Broglio by making him a cardinal for speaking out against the war in Iran and for covering up abuse as Leo himself was accused of doing before his election? Please feel free to offer your comments and to share this article with others.

If you appreciate my research and writings, please contribute to the “Save Our Seminarians” Fund that will help safeguard young men from becoming victims of homosexual predation in U.S. Catholic seminaries.

Gene Thomas Gomulka is a sexual abuse victims’ advocate, investigative reporter, author, and screenwriter. A former Navy (O6) Captain/Chaplain, seminary instructor, and diocesan Respect Life Director, Gomulka was ordained a priest for the Altoona-Johnstown diocese and later made a Prelate of Honor (Monsignor) by St. John Paul II. Email him at msgr.investigations@gmail.com.