{"id":16011,"date":"2026-06-03T00:57:23","date_gmt":"2026-06-02T19:27:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/pope-leo-begins-to-update-just-war-theory\/"},"modified":"2026-06-03T00:57:23","modified_gmt":"2026-06-02T19:27:23","slug":"pope-leo-begins-to-update-just-war-theory","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/pope-leo-begins-to-update-just-war-theory\/","title":{"rendered":"Pope Leo begins to update &#8216;just war&#8217; theory"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div itemprop=\"articleBody\">\n<p><iframe title=\"Everlit Audio Player\" src=\"https:\/\/everlit.audio\/embeds\/artl_XQlJkFGO7pa?ui_title_intro=Listen+now%3A&amp;client=wp&amp;client_version=3.1.5\" width=\"100%\" height=\"136px\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen=\"\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>(RNS) \u2014 One of the most important aspects of Pope Leo XIV\u2019s encyclical on artificial intelligence is his seeming rejection of \u201cjust war\u201d theory.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cToday, more than ever, without prejudice to the right to self-defense in the strictest sense, it is important to reaffirm that the \u2018just war\u2019 theory, which has all too often been used to justify any kind of war, is now outdated,\u201d he writes in \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.vatican.va\/content\/leo-xiv\/en\/encyclicals\/documents\/20260515-magnifica-humanitas.html#_ftnref183\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Magnifica Humanitas.<\/a>\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Does that mean he <a href=\"https:\/\/www.catholicculture.org\/commentary\/no-just-war-tradition-is-not-outdated\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">wants to jettison<\/a> a theory that, going back to St. Augustine, has been a staple of Catholic moral theology?<\/p>\n<hr\/>\n<hr\/>\n<p>To be sure, Leo acknowledges a right to self-defense, in line with what the church\u2019s Catechism <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vatican.va\/archive\/ENG0015\/__P81.HTM\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">calls<\/a> \u201cthe \u2018just war\u2019 doctrine.\u201d At the same time, he has sometimes sounded as though he believes there\u2019s no such thing as a just war.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWar does not solve problems, but rather it amplifies them and produces deep wounds in the history of people that take generations to heal,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.usccb.org\/news\/2025\/stop-tragedy-war-pope-says-after-us-bombs-iran\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">he said<\/a> after the U.S. bombed the sites of three nuclear-enrichment facilities in Iran last year. \u201cNo armed victory can compensate for the pain of mothers, the fear of children, the stolen future.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>And this April <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/Pontifex\/status\/2042588417578668338\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">he posted<\/a>: \u201c<span class=\"css-1jxf684 r-bcqeeo r-1ttztb7 r-qvutc0 r-poiln3\">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.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_4261071\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"width: 750px;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-4261071\" src=\"https:\/\/religionnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/webRNS-Leo-Magnifica-Humanitas2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"750\" height=\"500\" srcset=\"https:\/\/religionnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/webRNS-Leo-Magnifica-Humanitas2.jpg 1600w, https:\/\/religionnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/webRNS-Leo-Magnifica-Humanitas2-427x285.jpg 427w, https:\/\/religionnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/webRNS-Leo-Magnifica-Humanitas2-807x538.jpg 807w, https:\/\/religionnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/webRNS-Leo-Magnifica-Humanitas2-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/religionnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/webRNS-Leo-Magnifica-Humanitas2-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/religionnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/webRNS-Leo-Magnifica-Humanitas2-600x400.jpg 600w, https:\/\/religionnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/webRNS-Leo-Magnifica-Humanitas2-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/religionnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/webRNS-Leo-Magnifica-Humanitas2-380x253.jpg 380w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px\"\/> <\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text edd-enabled\"><span class=\"caption\">Pope Leo XIV attends the presentation of his first encyclical, \u201cMagnifica Humanitas: On Safeguarding the Human Person in the Time of Artificial Intelligence,\u201d at the Vatican, May 25, 2026. (AP Photo\/Alessandra Tarantino)<\/span><span class=\"credit\"\/><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>But it\u2019s not as if such pronouncements are a departure for popes of the past century. In the midst of World War II, Pius XII <a href=\"https:\/\/sites.google.com\/site\/edwardhadas\/catholic\/catholic-just-war-teaching-from-acceptance-to-revulsion\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">declared<\/a> that \u201c<span class=\"C9DxTc \">the theory of war as an apt and proportionate means of solving international conflicts is now out of date\u201d \u2014 thereby supplying the predicate for Leo to \u201creaffirm\u201d his encyclical\u2019s position. During Pope Francis\u2019 pontificate, he often sounded a pacifist note.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Put simply, modern warfare has led recent popes to raise the bar for when war can be justified. In the 20th century, the issue was its demonstrated capacity to wreak devastation on an unprecedented level. Today, AI presents a new kind of challenge.<\/p>\n<p>Taking up Francis\u2019 concerns about AI generally, in January of 2025 the Vatican\u2019s <a title=\"Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith\" href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Dicastery_for_the_Doctrine_of_the_Faith\">Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith<\/a> and <a title=\"Dicastery for Culture and Education\" href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Dicastery_for_Culture_and_Education\">Dicastery for Culture and Education<\/a> issued \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.vatican.va\/roman_curia\/congregations\/cfaith\/documents\/rc_ddf_doc_20250128_antiqua-et-nova_en.html#_ftnref193\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Antiqua et Nova<\/a>,\u201d a 30-page doctrinal statement that includes six paragraphs (98-103) on AI and warfare. Calling the \u201cweaponization\u201d of AI \u201chighly problematic,\u201d the statement declares that the \u201cdevelopment and deployment of AI in armaments should be subject to the highest levels of ethical scrutiny, governed by a concern for human dignity and the sanctity of life.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Following \u201cAntiqua et Nova,\u201d \u201cMagnifica Humanitas\u201d supplies some of that scrutiny. AI is relevant to both dimensions of classical just war theory: the right to go to war (<em>jus ad<\/em> <em>bellum<\/em>) and right conduct in war (<em>jus in bello<\/em>). About the first, the encyclical warns that AI can render conflict \u201cmore impersonal, lowering the threshold for resorting to violence, transforming defense into threat prediction and thus reducing victims to data.\u201d About the second, it insists that \u201cthe decision to use lethal force cannot be delegated to opaque or automated processes, but must remain under effective, self-aware and responsible human control.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Let us note that Vice President JD Vance himself endorsed the encyclical in general and what it had to say about just war in particular. In his <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/politics\/2026\/05\/28\/vance-says-military-should-never-let-ai-make-life-and-death-decisions\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">graduation speech<\/a> at the Air Force Academy this past weekend, he said, \u201cIf the warfare of the future is to live up to the moral values of our ancestors, decisions over life and death must be made by humans and not machines.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Could Vance have been trying to prove his recently minted Catholic bona fides after <a href=\"https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/news\/politics\/2026\/04\/14\/vice-president-jd-vance-pope-leo-careful-theology\/89614805007\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">telling<\/a> the pope last month \u201cto be careful when he talks about matters of theology\u201d? And was he also using the encyclical to shore up his standing as the administration\u2019s leading war skeptic?<\/p>\n<p>You might very well thin<span data-subtree=\"aimfl,mfl\" data-copy-service-computed-style=\"font-family: Google Sans, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 400; margin: 0px; text-decoration: none; border-bottom: 0px rgb(10, 10, 10);\">k that. I couldn\u2019t possibly comment<\/span>.<\/p>\n<hr\/>\n<hr\/>\n<p><!-- CONTENT END 1 -->\n        <\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/religionnews.com\/2026\/06\/02\/pope-leo-begins-to-update-just-war-theory\/\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>(RNS) \u2014 One of the most important aspects of Pope Leo XIV\u2019s encyclical on artificial intelligence is his seeming rejection of \u201cjust war\u201d theory.\u00a0 \u201cToday, more than ever, without prejudice to the right to self-defense in the strictest sense, it is important to reaffirm that the \u2018just war\u2019 theory, which has all too often been [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13905,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16011","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16011","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16011"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16011\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13905"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16011"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16011"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16011"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}