While bishops are entrusted with teaching binding Catholic moral principles, the prudential application of those principles in political and military affairs properly belongs to the laity, and clerical overreach into contingent judgments risks obscuring that essential distinction. Yet the optics include the articulating and applying moral principles in reference to specific instances, even suggesting that the archbishop himself—not Church teaching—is granting the requisite moral permission. Identifying Christian moral principles is relatively straightforward; applying them faithfully in uncertain situations is far more challenging. Clerics may speak as citizens on prudential political questions, but they should generally refrain from taking sides. Bishops in particular have a solemn obligation before God to teach authentic Catholic doctrine and moral principles that require assent.