Archbishop Timothy Broglio, who heads the Archdiocese of the Military Services, has criticized the Trump administration’s attacks on Venezuelan drug traffickers at sea.
“In the fight against drugs, the end never justifies the means, which must be moral, in accord with the principles of just-war theory, and always respectful of the dignity of each human person,” said the archbishop, who is a past president of the US bishops’ conference.
Reacting to reports that US forces had killed survivors after an assault on a boat engaged in the drug trade, the archbishop said that a moral prohibition “forbidding the intentional killing of noncombatants is inviolable.” He urged US military leaders to respect the consciences of their subordinates “by not asking them to engage in immoral actions.”