{"id":17632,"date":"2026-06-06T18:14:57","date_gmt":"2026-06-06T12:44:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/pope-leo-makes-clear-iran-is-not-a-just-war-as-he-travels-to-madrid-for-week-in-spain\/"},"modified":"2026-06-06T18:14:57","modified_gmt":"2026-06-06T12:44:57","slug":"pope-leo-makes-clear-iran-is-not-a-just-war-as-he-travels-to-madrid-for-week-in-spain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/pope-leo-makes-clear-iran-is-not-a-just-war-as-he-travels-to-madrid-for-week-in-spain\/","title":{"rendered":"Pope Leo makes clear Iran is not a &#8216;just war,&#8217; as he travels to Madrid for week in Spain"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div itemprop=\"articleBody\">\n<p><iframe title=\"Everlit Audio Player\" src=\"https:\/\/everlit.audio\/embeds\/artl_1Kxw7frl50Q?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>ABOARD THE PAPAL PLANE (RNS) \u2013 Pope Leo XIV said the war in Iran does not qualify as a just war according to Catholic teaching, while answering questions by journalists aboard the papal plane for his six-day visit to Spain.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI believe it has been already declared clearly,\u201d Leo said answering a question by Italian journalist Franca Giansoldati, of Il Messaggero, on Saturday (June 6). \u201cThere is no just war there,\u201d he said referencing the conflict in Iran.<\/p>\n<p>The question referred to Vice President JD Vance\u2019s remarks in April, where he used just war theory to justify the war in Iran. On that occasion, Vance said the pope should \u201cbe careful\u201d when talking about theology.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen the pope says that God is never on the side of people who wield the sword, there is more than 1,000-year tradition of just war theory,\u201d he said. President Trump later said Leo was \u201cweak\u201d on war in a post on Truth Social.<\/p>\n<p>Leo pointed to his most recent encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas (Magnificent Humanity), which says that just war theory is \u201ctoo often been used to justify any kind of war\u201d and is \u201cnow outdated.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe problem is that the just war theory comes from centuries past when we couldn\u2019t imagine the weapons, human being\u2019s ability for destruction,\u201d Leo said.<\/p>\n<p>The document urges alternative ways to overcome conflict, \u201cdialogue, diplomacy and forgiveness,\u201d condemning the use of force which disproportionately harms civilians.<\/p>\n<p>The pope made <span>\u201covercoming the theory of the \u2018<\/span>just war,&#8217;\u201d one of the themes of the first summit of cardinals he convened at the Vatican June 26-27, called a consistory.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Aboard the plane, Leo also weighed in on the war in Ukraine, especially after Russian President Vladimir Putin recently refused to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. \u201cI am worried for Ukraine,\u201d Leo said, \u201cWe must really push to reach an end to the conflict and the war and find a solution,\u201d he added, calling for continued negotiations.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAlready, four years and a half have passed. We must reach a solution,\u201d he said, recognizing the United States\u2019 efforts to mediate a peace.<\/p>\n<p>The pope also said he is in contact with the religious leaders in Lebanon, whom he met when he visited the country in November. \u201cThe situation is very complex,\u201d he said, as Israel continues its offensive in the southern part of the country.<\/p>\n<p>Regarding clerical sexual abuse, which he will likely address during his visit to Spain when he meets with abuse victims, Leo said \u201cabuse remains an open wound.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Finally, Leo said he will support the United States in the soccer world cup, though he does not know how many games he will be able to watch. He also said that while \u201cthe pope is for all teams, Prevost is for Madrid!,\u201d using his former last name.<\/p>\n<p>He addressed the rise in religiosity among some young people in many European countries and parts of the United States. \u201cYoung people that are looking for something more, having grown up in many cases that, if you will, spiritual dimension in their lives, they realize there\u2019s an emptiness and a lack of a sense of meaning\u201d he said, adding that he hopes his visit to Spain will encourage the young who have drawn closer to the church there.<\/p>\n<p>Leo also commented on the Puerto Rican singer Bad Bunny, who is doing ten concerts in Madrid this month, amid rumors of a possible virtual meeting between the two. \u201cIf (young people) are confronted with the question: do they want to see the Bad Bunny or do they want to see the pope, I think many will see Bad Bunny. But I think there will also be a few here to see the pope. And that says something, you know?\u201d<\/p>\n<p><!-- CONTENT END 1 -->\n        <\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/religionnews.com\/2026\/06\/06\/pope-leo-makes-clear-iran-is-not-a-just-war-as-he-travels-to-madrid-for-week-in-spain\/\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>ABOARD THE PAPAL PLANE (RNS) \u2013 Pope Leo XIV said the war in Iran does not qualify as a just war according to Catholic teaching, while answering questions by journalists aboard the papal plane for his six-day visit to Spain. \u201cI believe it has been already declared clearly,\u201d Leo said answering a question by Italian [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":17633,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17632","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\/17632","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=17632"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17632\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17633"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17632"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17632"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17632"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}