The Pope found clear words in his speech to an audience of students.Image: keystone
May 14, 2026, 4:18 p.mMay 14, 2026, 4:18 p.m
Pope Leo XIV has that global increase in military spending sentenced. “We cannot call ‘defense’ a buildup that increases tensions and insecurity, reduces investments in education and health, undermines trust in diplomacy and enriches elites who are indifferent to the common good,” said the head of the Catholic Church during a visit to Sapienza University in Rome.
Leo – the first American to sit on the Chair of Peter – spoke to students about a “world that is unfortunately distorted by war and the language of war.” This is one “Poisoning of reason, which penetrates from the geopolitical level into every social relationship,” Leo continued.
He also warned against this Use of artificial intelligence (AI) in warfare. With regard to the wars in Ukraine, the Gaza Strip and the Palestinian territories, Lebanon and Iran, the Pope spoke of one «inhumane development of the relationship between war and new technologies in a spiral of destruction”. He called on the university students to join him in “creating real peace.”
Leo had drawn the ire of US President Donald Trump in recent weeks after he repeatedly criticized war and called for peace. Trump was angry and attacked Leo on his Truth Social platform several posts because of his comments verbally. (sda/dpa)