Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio distributes Communion during the annual Pilgrimage and Memorial Mass at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, May 17, 2026 (OSV News photo/Mihoko Owada, Catholic Standard).
The first-ever Catholic Military Conference will provide three days of “formation, fellowship, and prayer centered in the Catholic Church’s Just War tradition” for Catholic service members and their families—even as the U.S. military conducts a war that Pope Leo XIV has labeled as unjust. But this inaugural event, held November 9-11 and sponsored by the nonterritorial Archdiocese for the Military Services, is unlikely to be a pep rally for the current administration and its policies. The conference’s plenary speaker is critical of the war in Iran, and Archbishop Timothy Broglio, who heads the military archdiocese, has publicly condemned recent actions by President Donald Trump and Secretary of Defense Peter Hegseth.
