Pope Leo XIV Echoes the Cry of Francis: War is Always a Defeat!

Vatican News

Warning that the “atrocity” of modern scientific weapons risks leading combatants “to barbarism far greater than in the past,” Pope Leo XIV reminds world leaders that “war is always a defeat” and “nothing is lost with peace; everything can be lost with war.”

“The heart of the Church is rent asunder,” Pope Leo lamented on Wednesday, “by the cries rising up from places of war,” especially Ukraine, Iran, Israel, and Gaza.

Speaking at the weekly General Audience, the Holy Father insisted, “We must never become accustomed to war” but instead “reject as a temptation the allure of powerful and sophisticated weapons.”

He warned that the use of “scientific weapons of all kinds” in modern warfare risks “leading combatants to a barbarism far greater than that of times past.”

Appealing directly to world leaders, Pope Leo echoed his predecessor, Pope Francis, who had so often declared, “War is always a defeat!” 

He also recalled the words of Pope Pius XII, who led the Church during the Second World War: “Nothing is lost with peace. Everything can be lost with war.”

Therefore, in the name of human dignity and international law, I repeat to those responsible what Pope Francis used to say: “War is always a defeat!” And with Pius XII, “Nothing is lost with peace. Everything can be lost with war.