The Vatican hit back at the president and the vice president of the U.S.(Image: AFP via Getty Images)
The Vatican delivered a stern criticism of Donald Trump and JD Vance regarding their position on “just war” doctrine, cautioning that the theory was created “before drones” and is becoming harder to defend in contemporary conflict.
The Vatican’s editorial director, Andrea Tornielli, noted “just war” was established centuries earlier, during an era when battles were waged with swords – not precision-guided drones.
“This teaching has gradually been enriched and deepened, to the point of recognizing how increasingly difficult it is to claim that a ‘just war’ exists,” Tornielli said.
His remarks follow JD Vance’s response to Pope Leo’s assertion that God is never on the side of those who wage a war, with Vance stating there is a “more than 1,000-year tradition of just war theory”.
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Speaking at a Turning Point USA event at the University of Georgia yesterday, Vance added: “We can, of course, have disagreements about whether this or that conflict is just,” reports the Mirror.
Contemporary warfare presents a “reality that raises moral questions of dramatic intensity,” Tornielli stated in his rebuttal to the vice president. “There has been a growing awareness that war is not a path to be followed,” he wrote.
US Cardinal Robert McElroy, the archbishop of Washington, has stated that the US-Israeli war in Iran failed to meet the minimum criteria for the war to be considered morally just.
Pope Leo hit back at Trump after he issued a scathing attack on social media(Image: AFP via Getty Images)
Such standards would have encompassed that it was a reaction to an immediate danger, that the US and Israel had explicitly stated their objectives or that the advantages would exceed the damage.
Vance was called out for his “hypocrisy” this week, after suggesting that Pope Leo XIV stay out of American politics, shortly after he traveled to Hungary to campaign for Viktor Orbán.
“I certainly think that in some cases, it would be best for the Vatican to stick to matters of morality, to stick to matters of what’s going on in the Catholic Church, and let the president of the United States stick to dictating American public policy. But when they’re in conflict, they’re in conflict. I don’t worry about it too much,” Vance said.
Vance addressed the conflict during a Turning Point event in Georgia this week(Image: POOL/AFP via Getty Images)
The back and forth that has ensued over the past few days began when President Trump targeted Pope Leo XIV, calling him “weak” and captive to the “Radical Left.” Shortly after, he shared an AI-generated image of himself as Jesus Christ, causing major uproar online where even the most loyal Trump supporters called out his blasphemy.
However, the papal father seemed unfazed by Trump’s comments, telling reporters on Monday, “I’m not afraid of the Trump administration, or of speaking out loudly about the message of the Gospel, which is what the Church works for.”
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