Pope Leo XIV delivered one of his strongest denunciations yet of the recent conflict with Iran, declaring that war “is never blessed by God” and signaling continued opposition to arguments advanced by President Donald Trump and other Republicans defending the military campaign.

The remarks are the latest in a series of public disagreements between the first American pope and the Trump administration. Leo has repeatedly criticized armed conflicts around the world, including Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and, more recently, the U.S. and Israeli military strikes against Iran. Trump, in turn, has sharply criticized the pontiff over his positions.

Before ascending to the papacy, then-Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost frequently challenged the Trump administration on immigration policy, disputed Vice President JD Vance’s interpretation of the theological principle of ordo amoris, and declined Trump’s invitation to serve on his newly created “Board of Peace.”

Since the outbreak of the Iran conflict, Leo has intensified his appeals against war. In March, he urged Christian political leaders who initiate wars to examine their “conscience” and “go to confession.” He followed those remarks in April with several social media posts urging “peace” and calling on the world to “reject the logic of violence and war.”

Last week, Leo convened the College of Cardinals at the Vatican, where he devoted part of his Friday homily to the subject of war. Vatican News highlighted the message with the headline: “Pope at Consistory Opening Mass: War is never blessed by God.”

According to Vatican News, the pope urged the cardinals to seek “the gift of peace in unity” while emphasizing the moral obligation to reject warfare.

“Reflecting on the many conflicts affecting humanity, he stressed that “war is never worthy of humanity, and it is never blessed by God, because, even if we are equipped with high-tech weapons, the Creator has endowed us with intelligence and free will to resolve conflicts as human beings and not as beasts.”

“The Pope then added that “peace is a duty of justice because we are one human family, a magnifica humanitas…”

Christopher Hale, who writes about the papacy in his Letters from Leo Substack, argued that the pope’s comments could have far-reaching theological implications. Hale suggested the homily “signaled the Vatican may rewrite the just war doctrine itself,” which Republicans including Vice President JD Vance and House Speaker Mike Johnson have cited in defense of the strikes against Iran.

Pointing to the timing of Leo’s remarks, Hale wrote that it “escaped no one.” “As Leo gathered the cardinals to plead for peace, the United States was bombing Iran for the second straight day,” while the “week-old ceasefire already lies in ruins.”

Hale further reported that Vatican officials have indicated Leo intends to “formally revisit” the Church’s longstanding “just war” doctrine.

According to Hale, Leo had already questioned that doctrine in his May encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas—the same phrase referenced during Friday’s homily—arguing that it is “now outdated” and “has all too often been used to justify any kind of war.”

“Humanity possesses far more effective and capable tools for promoting human life and resolving conflicts, such as dialogue, diplomacy and forgiveness,” wrote Leo. “The use of force, violence and weapons reflects a relational poverty that always has disastrous consequences for civilian populations.”

Hale also noted that Leo’s latest comments followed public defenses of the Iran operation by what he described as “two of the most powerful Catholics in the United States government.” He cited Vance, who argued during a Turning Point USA event that a “more than 1,000-year tradition of just war theory” justified military action against Iran, and Johnson, who similarly defended the strikes and praised Trump and Vance for their understanding of the conflict.

Rejecting those arguments, Hale wrote, “The just war tradition Vance reached for was never written as a permission slip,” contending that Leo’s teaching means the Trump administration’s reliance on just war theory “collapses, and it collapses on the Church’s own terms,” because “[a] doctrine meant to restrain that impulse [to war] cannot be turned into the instrument that excuses it.”

{Matzav.com}