The White House’s post drew criticism for splicing real strike footage with scenes from “Gladiator” and “The Matrix.”

Cardinal Blase J. Cupich urged lawmakers to move away from further "gamifying" the war, deeming those efforts a "profound moral failure" that "strips away the humanity of real people." Scott Olson via Getty Images

Cardinal Blase J. Cupich has joined a growing chorus of Catholic leaders in speaking out against US President Donald Trump`s foreign policy moves.

Cupich, who has served as archbishop of Chicago since 2014, blasted the Trump administration`s insensitive messaging around the Iran war after the White House posted a video featuring clips of "Gladiator" and "The Matrix" and other movies spliced with actual Iran strike footage to social media last week.

"A real war with real death and real suffering being treated like it`s a video game - it`s sickening," he wrote in a statement titled "A Call to Conscience" Saturday. "Hundreds of people are dead, mothers and fathers, daughters and sons, including scores of children who made the fatal mistake of going to school that day. Six U.S. soldiers have been killed. They are also dishonored by that social media post."

"This horrifying portrayal demonstrates that we now live in an era when the distance between the battlefield and the living room has been drastically reduced," he continued.

JUSTICE THE AMERICAN WAY. ???????????? pic.twitter.com/0502N6a3rL

— The White House (@WhiteHouse) March 6, 2026

The Trump administration has made a number of eyebrow-raising attempts on social media to get Americans excited about the war ever since the conflict, dubbed Operation Epic Fury, erupted Feb. 28.

As Cupich implied, the White House drew an analogy between the war and video games when it shared a post that compiled real-life clips of Iran strikes with scenes from the Grand Theft Auto franchise.

Elsewhere in his statement, Cupich urged lawmakers to move away from further "gamifying" the war, deeming those efforts a "profound moral failure" that "strips away the humanity of real people."

"Our government is treating the suffering of the Iranian people as a backdrop for our own entertainment, as if it`s just another piece of content to be swiped through while we`re waiting in line at the grocery store," he wrote. "But, in the end, we lose our humanity when we are thrilled by the destructive power of our military."

"I know that the American people are better than this," he concluded. "We have the good sense to know that what is happening is not entertainment but war, and that Iran is a nation of people, not a video game others play to entertain us."

Cupich, of course, wasn`t the only public figure to denounce the Trump administration`s social media post. On Friday, actor-director Ben Stiller called on the White House to remove scenes from his 2008 film "Tropic Thunder" from the video, writing in part: "War is not a movie."