This combo shows, from left, cardinal Robert McElroy, cardinal Joseph Tobin and cardinal Blase Cupich.

The three highest-ranking Catholic cardinals who lead archdioceses in the United States issued a statement Monday criticizing U.S. foreign policy as overly militaristic, referencing President Trump`s recent operation in Venezuela and threats to take Greenland by force.

In a joint statement, Cardinals Blase Cupich, Robert McElroy and Joseph Tobin, the archbishops of Chicago, Washington, D.C., and Newark, N.J., respectively, reiterated Pope Leo XIV`s remarks to the Vatican diplomatic corps on Jan. 9.

In those remarks, the pope said "a diplomacy that promotes dialogue and seeks consensus among all parties is being replaced by a diplomacy based on force, by either individuals or groups of allies."

"War is back in vogue, and a zeal for war is spreading," he continued. "The principle established after the Second World War, which prohibited nations from using force to violate the borders of others, has been completely undermined."

Cupich, McElroy and Tobin referenced the U.S. capturing Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro and Trump repeatedly expressing interest in acquiring Greenland in arguing that the country has "entered into the most profound and searing debate about the moral foundation for America`s actions in the world since the end of the Cold War."

"Peace is no longer sought as a gift and desirable good in itself, or in pursuit of ‘the establishment of the ordered universe willed by God with a more perfect form of justice among men and women,`" they wrote.

"Instead, peace is sought through weapons as a condition for asserting one`s own dominion."

They also mentioned Russia`s ongoing war in Ukraine, which has killed roughly 15,000 Ukrainian civilians and resulted in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of soldiers on both sides, as a conflict that has "raised basic questions about the use of military force and the meaning of peace."

Since returning to office, Trump also authorized strikes against Iranian oil facilities in June and ISIS targets in Nigeria last month. The U.S. also carried out multiple strikes against ISIS militants in Syria after a person affiliated with the terrorist group killed two Iowa National Guard members and an American interpreter near Palmyra on Dec. 13.

"Our country`s moral role in confronting evil around the world, sustaining the right to life and human dignity, and supporting religious liberty are all under examination," the cardinals said. "And the building of just and sustainable peace, so crucial to humanity`s well-being now and in the future, is being reduced to partisan categories that encourage polarization and destructive policies."

The pope and American Catholic officials have also criticized the president`s immigration crackdown in his second term. Pope Leo said in September that those who are against abortion but in favor of capital punishment or "inhuman" treatment of migrants are not truly "pro-life."