Pope Leo XIV said Friday that the war with Iran doesn’t qualify as a “just war” under Catholic teaching – a pointed theological judgment he delivered to reporters aboard the papal plane en route to Spain.
The pope was fielding questions from journalists during what the Vatican described as a six-day visit to Spain when he offered the assessment. He didn’t elaborate on the specific conditions of the conflict he found lacking, according to NPR’s account of the exchange.
Catholic “just war” doctrine – developed over centuries by theologians including Augustine and Thomas Aquinas — holds that armed conflict can be morally permissible only under strict conditions: a just cause, right intention, proper authority, last resort, and a reasonable chance of success without disproportionate harm to civilians. Leo’s statement suggests he believes the current fighting fails at least one of those tests, though he didn’t specify which.
It isn’t the first time a pope has weighed in on active military conflicts from a moral standpoint, but such declarations during a papal trip abroad carry weight precisely because of the setting — an open press session, unscripted, at altitude. Reporters on papal flights have historically drawn some of the more candid remarks from sitting pontiffs.
Leo’s Spain visit is scheduled to run six days. The Vatican has not released a full itinerary of his engagements there, and NPR didn’t report any additional comment from the pope on what diplomatic steps, if any, he believes should follow his moral assessment of the conflict.
NPR reported this story on June 6, 2026. Read the original report.
