Summary

Pope Leo XIV on Friday offered a new criticism of war, in a social media post that named no names but appeared to hint at the Trump administration leadership harnessing Christian nationalism to glorify the US and Israel’s war against Iran. “God does not bless any conflict. Anyone who is a disciple of Christ, the Prince of Peace, is never on the side of those who once wielded the sword and today drop bombs,” Leo wrote on his official X account. “Military action will not create space for freedom or times of #Peace, which comes only from the patient promotion of coexistence and dialogue among peoples.” The pope, who was born in Chicago and is the first American to lead the Catholic church, has consistently spoken out against the fighting in the Middle East since the US and Israel began strikes on Iran in February. Leo’s post on Friday appeared to be an oblique response to the Trump administration’s repeated references to God while conducting Operation Epic Fury in Iran. The defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, has especially portrayed the conflict in religious terms, describing it as a holy war carried out “in the name of Jesus Christ”. Hegseth, who has a long association with Christian nationalism, has compared the rescue of the second crew member from a downed F-15E fighter jet in Iran last weekend, which happened to be Easter weekend, to the resurrection of Jesus Christ. He told reporters: “Shot down on a Friday, Good Friday, hidden in a cave, a crevice, all of Saturday and rescued on Sunday, flown out of Iran as the sun was rising on Easter Sunday, a pilot reborn. All home and accounted for. A nation rejoicing. God is good.” On Friday, the pope also wrote: “Absurd and inhuman violence is spreading ferociously through the sacred places of the Christian East. Profaned by the blasphemy of war and the brutality of business, with no regard for people’s lives, which are considered at most collateral damage of self-interest.” He continued: “No gain can be worth the life of the weakest, children, or families. No cause can justify the shedding of innocent blood.” Donald Trump and other senior officials, including Hegseth, have used religious language and implied that the US is engaged in a divinely supported mission, while simultaneously promising “death and destruction”. The US president told reporters last week that he believes God backs US actions in Iran. The violence from the war on Iran has already claimed thousands of lives across the Middle East since coordinated US and Israeli attacks began on 28 February. After Trump said earlier in the week that “a whole civilization will die tonight” if Iran did not reopen the strait of Hormuz and comply with his demands, Leo called the threats “truly unacceptable”. Back in March, during a Palm Sunday mass in St Peter’s Square, the pope referred to the fighting involving Iran, Israel and the US as “atrocious” and emphasized that Jesus should not be invoked to justify war. He made those comments as thousands of US troops were arriving in the region and shortly after Hegseth had prayed for violence against enemies he said deserved “no mercy”. Pope Leo also said that God does not listen to the prayers of leaders who pursue war and have “hands full of blood”.