In his speech to priests on Friday, the Pope said that confession helps Catholics and promotes peace and unity, reports Reuters.
“Do those Christians who bear a heavy responsibility for armed conflicts have enough humility and courage to seriously examine their conscience and go to confession?” Leo XIV asked during the speech.
US President Trump was raised Presbyterian, but there are several Catholics among the leading members of his administration, including Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Jesus Christ taught his followers not to commit violence, and thus the Catholic Church is generally opposed to war.
The church has been evaluating armed conflicts for centuries in accordance with the tradition of just war. This is a series of criteria, according to which it is determined whether the conflict is morally defensible. A just war is, for example, defense against invasion.
Washington Cardinal Robert McElroy said this week that the US-Israeli attacks on Iran do not meet these criteria.
