Pope Leo Urges Christian Political Leaders Who Start Wars to Examine Their ‘Conscience’ and ‘Go To Confession’

Andrew Medichini/AP photo

Pope Leo XIV spoke about the responsibilities of political leaders who initiate wars during a speech to priests on Friday, suggesting they should examine their consciences and go to confession.

Leo, formerly known as Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost, made history last year when he became the first American pope. Catholics in his hometown of Chicago cheered his selection, as did many others who had worked with him during his long career. He has been an outspoken advocate against numerous wars, including Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and more recently the U.S. and Israeli strikes in Iran.

The pope has previously criticized President Donald Trump’s administration directly, objecting to his immigration policies, taking issue with Vice President JD Vance’s comments about the theological concept of ordo amoris, and rejecting Trump’s invitation to join his newly-formed “Board of Peace.”

Leo did not mention any specific political leaders by name in his remarks on Friday, according to a report by Reuters’ Joshua McElwee.

“Do those Christians who bear grave responsibility in armed conflicts have the humility and courage ​to make a serious examination of conscience and to ​go to confession?” Leo posed a question to the priests.

Trump is Presbyterian, but both Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio are Catholic. Vance converted to the faith in 2019.

“The ⁠Catholic Church generally opposes war,” wrote McElwee. “For centuries, the Church has evaluated conflicts according to the just war tradition, which uses a series of criteria to evaluate whether a conflict can be considered ​morally justifiable, for ​example repelling ⁠an unjust invasion.”

Several Catholic cardinals in the U.S. have offered pointed critiques of the Iran war.

Cardinal Robert McElroy of Washington, D.C. denounced the war in Iran in a March 9 interview with his archdiocese newspaper, saying that it failed multiple just war criteria.

While the Iranian regime has been “a brutal and repressive government that has spread terrorism throughout the world and should be replaced,” said McElroy, this still was not a “just war” because it was not a response to “an existing or imminent and objectively verifiable attack by Iran,” the “goals and intentions are absolutely unclear,” and “it is far from clear that the benefits of this war will outweigh the harm which will be done,” among other reasons.

Chicago Cardinal Blaze Cupich previously criticized a social media post by the White House with a video that spliced war footage from Iran with action movie clips, calling it “sickening” for a “real war with real death and real suffering being treated like it’s a video game.”

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