The rescue of a US airman shot down over Iran on Easter Sunday became the latest flashpoint in the deepening theological debate over the US-Israeli war after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth publicly compared the operation to the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Hegseth draws biblical parallels at White House press conference
At Monday’s press conference, Hegseth offered a remarkable retelling of the rescue mission, framing it in explicitly Christian terms. The F-15E fighter jet, he noted, was “shot down on Friday – Good Friday,” the day Christians commemorate Jesus’ crucifixion. After ejecting, the airman spent the night hidden in a shelter “in a cave, a crevice, all Saturday,” Hegseth said, before being pulled out at dawn on Easter Sunday.
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“A pilot reborn, everyone home and responsible, a nation rejoicing,” declared the defense minister. “God is good.”
Hegseth also said the airman’s first words to his rescuers carried a religious message. “In that moment of isolation and danger,” he said, “his faith and fighting spirit shone through.”
Trump claims divine support for Iran war, says he takes no pleasure in killing
Minutes later, at the same press conference, President Trump made his own appeal to divine authority, declaring that God supports the ongoing military campaign against Iran, a conflict that has killed thousands, including civilians. “Because God is good,” Trump said, “and God wants people to be taken care of.”
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He tried to distance himself from any suggestion that he reveled in violence. “God doesn’t like what’s going on. I don’t like what’s going on. Everybody says I enjoy it. I don’t enjoy this,” Trump said. “I don’t like seeing people killed.
Hegseth’s Christian Nationalism and the Shadow of the Crusades
Monday’s remarks were not an isolated moment. On April 3, Hegseth asked the American people to “get down on their knees every day” to pray for military victory in the Middle East “in the name of Jesus Christ,” language that reflects the broader ideological worldview the defense secretary has long cultivated.
Hegseth has repeatedly expressed admiration for the Crusades, medieval Christian military campaigns fought against Muslim forces for control of holy sites in the Middle East. Tattooed on his right bicep is the Latin phrase Deus vult, “God wills it,” a battle cry associated with these wars.
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In his 2020 book American Crusade, he describes the Crusades as “bloody” and “full of unspeakable tragedies”, but argues that they were justified as a defense of Christian Europe.
His rhetoric also reflects an element of conservative American Christianity that conflates American nationalism with religious identity, a worldview in which the country’s military and cultural battles are framed as a continuation of a sacred mission.
Pope Leo XIV rejects the Holy War framing and calls for an end to violence
The theological claims emanating from Washington have been met with firm and consistent rebuttals from the Vatican. Pope Leo XIV, the first US-born pontiff, has repeatedly called for an end to the conflict and questioned the use of Christian doctrine to justify warfare, stopping short of directly naming Hegseth but leaving no doubt about his goal.
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In a homily delivered on Maundy Thursday in the Basilica of St. John Lateran in Rome, the Pope offered a sharp counterpoint to the administration. “We tend to think of ourselves as powerful when we dominate, victorious when we destroy our equals, great when we are feared,” he said. “God gave us an example – not how to control, but how to liberate; not how to destroy life, but how to give it.”
In a separate Sunday homily in late March, the pope went further, warning that Jesus “does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war, but rejects them.” And during Mass on the morning of Easter, Leo said that the Christian mission was often “distorted by the desire for domination, completely alien to the way of Jesus Christ.”
Pope Leo calls Trump’s peace statements encouraging and calls for dialogue
Despite the tensions, Pope Leo has been careful to avoid direct confrontation with the White House, working mostly through intermediaries and moderated public statements. He mentioned Trump by name only at the request of journalists.
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Speaking outside his Castel Gandolfo residence on March 31, the Pope offered a cautious note of optimism. “I was told that President Trump recently said he would like to end the war,” he said. “I hope he’s looking for a way to reduce the amount of violence, the bombing.
Leo confirmed that he had not directly spoken to Trump about the war. But on Friday morning he spoke by phone with Israeli President Isaac Herzog, in which he reiterated the importance of dialogue and the need to ensure a “just and lasting peace” in the Middle East, according to a Vatican statement.
