QUANTICO, Virginia (LifeSiteNews) — On Wednesday, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth officially announced the creation of an Office of Religious Affairs (ORA). The new office will report directly to the secretary and advocate for religious support across the Department of War.
LifeSiteNews obtained Hegseth’s prepared remarks and the department’s press release ahead of the announcement.
“Cutting edge technology, new bases, and a better educational pipeline are still incomplete without the most essential component of our Republic: faith,” Hegseth said.
The address, delivered at Marine Corps Base Quantico, came one year after Hegseth gathered some 800 generals and admirals there to lay out his vision for the force. This year’s speech included a plan to cut general and flag officer positions by 20 percent, double the reduction ordered by Hegseth last year. Hegseth, however, closed the address with the religious affairs initiative.
“Today, at my direction, I am establishing the Office of Religious Affairs,” he said. “No staff filters. No bureaucratic dilution. A direct line to the Secretary. This won’t be a policy shop pushing paper. It will have real teeth.”
According to the department’s press release, the ORA will “protect free exercise, remove policy barriers, identify unmet requirements, and secure the support needed for the Service chaplaincies to succeed.” The chaplaincies will remain the military’s primary providers of religious support.
The new office builds on a series of chaplaincy reforms Hegseth has rolled out over the past year. In December, he released a video vowing to “make the Chaplain Corps great again,” arguing that chaplains had been minimized and treated as therapists rather than ministers, LifeSiteNews reported. In March, he cut the military’s recognized faith codes from more than 200 to 31 and replaced chaplains’ rank insignia with religious insignia, changes LifeSiteNews covered.
Hegseth explained that service members lose their faith communities each time they are ordered to a new duty station. He cited figures showing fewer than 5 percent of the force identifies as non-religious.
“Political correctness and secular humanism got a vote – chaplains did not,” he said. “Budgets were cut. Resourcing and manpower needs were ignored. Base chapels fell apart.”
Those shortfalls have drawn concern from Catholic leaders. Last December, Archbishop Timothy Broglio of the Archdiocese for the Military Services criticized the Army for ending support contracts for its chapels, including those for Catholic religious educators, administrators, and musicians.
The criticism noted that only 137 Catholic chaplains serve in the Army’s active and reserve components. It also cited RAND data showing about one Catholic chaplain for every 1,000 Catholic soldiers, compared with roughly six Protestant chaplains per 1,000 Protestant soldiers.
The Department addressed these concerns, explaining the ORA “will not compel religious participation, favor one faith, or diminish the rights of personnel of any faith or lack thereof.”
Pentagon Press Secretary Kingsley Wilson offered a similar assurance in December, weeks after LifeSiteNews received press credentials and joined the Pentagon press corps. Asked by LifeSite’s White House and Pentagon Correspondent Wade Searle whether Catholics considering military service could be confident their values would be respected, Wilson replied, “Under this secretary, absolutely.”
Hegseth tied the initiative to George Washington’s decision to provide chaplains for the Continental Army in 1775. “We are placing spiritual health at the same level as physical health,” he said. “We wage physical warfare, [but] we all know the real battle is spiritual.”
He closed with a charge to military chaplains: “Live your calling. Stand firm. Preach Truth. Minister to the Flock. Fear no man.”
The Office of Religious Affairs takes effect immediately under Hegseth’s signed memo, which is posted on war.gov. Details on the office’s leadership, staffing, and budget have not yet been announced. Regardless, for the chaplains the secretary addressed directly, the message was clear: after years of neglect under previous administrations, their concerns will now go straight to the top.