17/05/2026
BREAKING: Pope calls out Trump's war machine — without saying his name once
Pope Leo went to Rome's top university Thursday and delivered what amounted to a sermon aimed directly at Washington — without ever naming Trump. He warned against military spending that "increases tensions, impoverishes education and health, and enriches elites that care nothing for the common good." He explicitly called out the Iran war by name, listing it alongside Ukraine, Gaza, and Lebanon as examples of a "spiral of annihilation" driven by new weapons technology.
The Pope didn't stop at the war itself. He took direct aim at the rearmament boom sweeping Europe and the U.S., telling the crowd: don't call it "defense" when it's really just making weapons manufacturers rich. He also warned that artificial intelligence in warfare is stripping human beings of moral responsibility for the deaths they cause — a pointed shot at the drone-heavy, tech-forward style of modern American military operations.
Throughout it all, Leo never said Trump's name. He didn't have to. Every line landed. He closed by urging students to be "artisans of true peace — an unarmed and disarming peace" — the exact opposite of what the man currently posting AI images of himself as Jesus Christ is doing with the most powerful military in human history.