Pope Leo XIV decries recent intensification of attacks in Ukraine
Pope Leo XIV urged peace during his General Audience on May 27, condemning the intensified Russian attacks on Ukraine. He highlighted that war worsens problems, destroys homes, places of worship, and shatters innocent lives. The Pope extended special greetings to Lebanese pilgrims amid new attacks in Lebanon and thanked mothers in Poland on Mother’s Day. He called on all peoples wounded by war to seek protection under the Virgin Mary, Queen of Peace.
4 months ago
Pope Leo XIV used his Wednesday General Audience on 27 May 2026 to condemn the recent surge in Russian attacks on Ukraine, reaffirm his call for peace, and extend pastoral messages to other faithful groups.
The Holy Father said he follows the war in Ukraine “with concern” as attacks have sharply intensified in recent days. He expressed solidarity with those suffering from the new Russian strikes, emphasizing that war “does not solve problems; it worsens them.” He warned that wherever missiles and drones fall, “hopes also collapse; homes and places of worship are destroyed, and innocent lives are shattered.” He entrusted all war‑wounded peoples to the protection of the Virgin Mary, Queen of Peace 1.
During the same audience, Pope Leo XIV addressed Arabic‑ and French‑speaking pilgrims from Lebanon, invoking Mary’s maternal care and asking the Lord to protect them from every evil 1.
He also thanked mothers in Poland on the occasion of Mother’s Day, praising them for passing on the gift of life and teaching love for God and neighbor. He asked the Holy Mother of God to intercede so that “the life of every person from conception to natural death” may be protected in their homeland 1.
The Pope concluded with a prayer for lasting bonds with Jesus and urged the faithful to seek the Virgin Mary’s intercession for peace and protection 1.
Examine the Catholic Church’s teachings on war and peace
The Catholic Church’s teaching on war and peace is not a simple “pro-war” or “anti-war” position. It holds together two convictions: war is always a grave evil that must be avoided, and yet legitimate authority can sometimes use force to defend the innocent, while always working toward a future where war is outlawed by international agreement.
A central Catholic idea is that peace is more than the absence of war. Peace is described as requiring real protection and development of human life: safeguarding the goods of persons, enabling free communication among peoples, respecting the dignity of persons and peoples, and practicing fraternity. Peace is also defined as “the tranquillity of order”, and it is “the work of justice and the effect of charity.”
So, the Church’s aim is not merely to prevent fighting, but to build conditions where human beings can live in truth, justice, and charity. Pope John Paul II explicitly links the broader social commitment of justice to the commitment of peace in the modern world, especially under the shadow of nuclear war’s “terrible self-destruction.”
Because “the evils and injustices that all war brings with it” are real, the Church teaches that we must do everything reasonably possible to avoid war.
This flows from the moral weight of the fifth commandment: it “forbids the intentional destruction of human life,” and therefore the Church “insistently urges everyone to prayer and to action” so that God frees humanity from the “ancient bondage of war.”
The Church therefore pushes both spiritual and practical responsibility: prayer and concrete efforts aimed at preventing conflict and freeing people from cycles of violence.
The Catechism states that all citizens and all governments are obliged to work for the avoidance of war.
But it also teaches that, as long as the danger of war persists and there is no international authority with the necessary competence and power, governments are not denied the right of lawful self-defense “once all peace efforts have failed.”
This is echoed in later Catholic reflections: for most of Christian history, the Church accepted that unjust aggression should be resisted so that authorities can defend the common good and protect innocent life, even if that resistance can require force up to and including lethal force—while also building peace and competent international authorities.
The Church’s “just war” tradition is therefore not presented as a license for war; it is an attempt to limit the outbreak of war and govern the way in which war may be waged, precisely because wars cause widespread suffering.
The U.S. bishops also emphasize the “legitimacy of just war teaching” when defending the innocent against grave evil—but warn that we must never lose sight of “the cost of war and its harm to human life,” and should pursue prevention, peaceful resolution, and reconciliation after conflict.
Catholic teaching distinguishes peace from a certain kind of passive refusal to defend justice.
A study of magisterial development highlights that the Council affirms duty to work toward a time when war is outlawed, and it also insists that peace cannot be imposed through fear of weapons; instead, nations should work to end the arms race and begin disarmament “proceeding at an equal pace according to agreement.”
But peace is not treated as an excuse to abandon responsibility. The same source explains that Pope Paul VI taught in his 1968 World Day of Peace message that peace should not be confused with pacifism, describing peace as the pursuit of “truth, justice, freedom, and love,” which may require sacrifice in the service of others.
And Pope Paul VI’s attention to justice as the foundation of peace appears in his address associated with the United Nations visit: peace must “basarsi sulla giustizia” (be based on justice), because the human community needs justice, and concrete care for the poor is part of that moral foundation.
Even where force might be contemplated, Catholic teaching insists on moral restraint rooted in human dignity.
The Catechism links war-ethics to the protection of human life and to charity/justice as the basis of peace.
The bishops’ policy summaries further stress:
Different Catholic traditions express the same direction with varying strictness. For example, the Catechism of the Ukrainian Catholic Church teaches that the use of military force can be justified only in the “extreme necessity” of legitimate self-defense, that the Christian soldier is “always a defender of peace,” and that given contemporary destructive methods—especially weapons of mass destruction—“practically no conditions exist for a just launching of war.”
The Church’s teaching is future-oriented. It urges action toward international structures capable of protecting security and rights.
The Catechism’s statement about self-defense explicitly presupposes a future in which adequate international authority exists.
Related Catholic reflections emphasize that the “clear duty” remains to work for a time when all war can be completely outlawed by international consent, which requires “some universal public authority” capable of safeguarding security and justice for all—while, before that, existing centers must pursue “better means for obtaining common security,” disarmament measures, and workable safeguards.
A major debate among theologians concerns whether contemporary magisterial teaching represents a rupture from the older “classical” scholastic just war framework. One scholarly analysis argues that the supposed discontinuity is less pronounced than claimed, attributing much of the appearance of rupture to differences in vocabulary and rhetorical style rather than clear doctrinal rejection.
That same analysis highlights that while certain classical rationales (for example, making “national prestige or honor” an argument for war) have been ruled out by the modern papal magisterium, this does not necessarily mean the entire classical theory was rejected.
It quotes Pope Pius XII’s Christmas message (1948) to underline that a Christian pursuit of peace “will never turn a question of national prestige or honor into an argument for war or even a threat of war.”
The same scholarly source also notes that Pope Pius XII’s moral critique of those who provoke war as a “school of great virtues” (i.e., treating war as intrinsically character-building) frames such willfulness as a “crime and sheer lunacy.”
Finally, the editors of the symposium introducing this debate describe “just war” as a complex and developing doctrine with intense discussion inside and outside the Church—especially in the twentieth century under the pressure of world wars and nuclear threat.
Even when war ends, the Catholic vision does not stop at the cessation of hostilities. Benedict XV, for example, urges that after comparative peace is concluded, people should clear their hearts of bitterness and make room for mutual love and concord.
Pius XII describes not merely preaching peace, but also restoring agreement “under the standard of truth, justice, and love” and invoking heaven’s help—suggesting that peace is both moral and spiritual work, not only political settlement.
Catholic teaching on war and peace can be summarized as follows: war is an evil that must be avoided by every reasonable means, and peace is a positive moral order grounded in justice and charity; still, when war threatens and no adequate international authority exists, governments may have a limited right of lawful self-defense once peace efforts fail; meanwhile, the Church insists that peace must be built through justice, disciplined restraint, and long-term institutions capable of replacing war.