By Phil Stewart and Idrees Ali
WASHINGTON, April 16 (Reuters) - U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth cited biblical scripture on Thursday to attack the media, comparing reporters to Jewish adversaries of Jesus Christ plotting "how to destroy him."
Hegseth's comments sought to counter what he saw as negative coverage of the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran. They also came amid an escalating feud between President Donald Trump and Pope Leo, the first U.S.-born leader of the Catholic Church and a critic of the war.
That feud took a new turn this week when the U.S. president posted images on social media of Jesus embracing him and Trump himself as a Jesus-like figure.
Hegseth, whose Christianity has become a focus of his tenure as the head of the Pentagon, used his opening remarks at a Pentagon briefing on the Iran war to reflect on a Sunday sermon about how Pharisees sought to undermine Jesus even after watching him perform a miracle.
Their hearts were hardened against Jesus, Hegseth said, and "the Pharisees went out and immediately held counsel against him, how to destroy him."
"I sat there in church and I thought, our press are just like these Pharisees," Hegseth said, in front of reporters assembled in the Pentagon briefing room, adding he wasn't referring to everyone, just "the legacy, Trump-hating press."
"The Pharisees scrutinized every good act in order to find a violation. Only looking for the negative. The hardened hearts of our press are calibrated only to impugn."
In recent days, Hegseth and Trump have repeatedly turned to Christian language to discuss the war, with both calling the Easter Sunday rescue of a downed U.S. airman in Iran a miracle.
Hegseth, at a prayer service last month, prayed for troops to be able to deliver "overwhelming violence of action against those who deserve no mercy."
U.S. presidents and administrations have throughout history invoked the Christian faith in times of war. But the Trump administration has set itself apart in its use of stark, unequivocal religious language, said John Fea, a history professor at Messiah University who has written extensively about evangelicals and politics.
It has also widened a rift with Pope Leo. Less than an hour after the Pentagon's press conference ended, Leo, who is from Chicago, posted on X: "Woe to those who manipulate religion and the very name of God for their own military, economic, and political gain, dragging that which is sacred into darkness and filth."
Hegseth is a frequent critic of the U.S. media, which he says is biased against Trump.
He has waged an unprecedented legal battle with the media over a credentialing policy at the Pentagon that a federal judge last month ruled violated the U.S. Constitution. The Pentagon is appealing that ruling.
(Reporting by Phil Stewart and Idrees Ali; Editing by Don Durfee and Lisa Shumaker)
