Catholic bishops rally behind Pope Leo on Iran war, counter Vance's remarks

The group representing the nation’s Catholic bishops has issued a statement in support of Pope Leo XIV’s remarks on the Iran war, an apparent rebuff of Vice President JD Vance’s admonition suggesting the pope “be careful when he talks about matters of theology.”

“For over a thousand years, the Catholic Church has taught just war theory and it is that long tradition the Holy Father carefully references in his comments on war,” read the statement issued by Bishop James Massa, who chairs the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ doctrine committee.

Pope Leo has expressed opposition to the war in favor of peace negotiations and said in an April 10 social media post that those who are disciples of Christ are “never on the side of those who once wielded the sword and today drop bombs.”

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The April 15 statement from the bishops’ conference committee directly addressed those remarks, noting that a tenet of the church’s "just war" tradition teaches that nations “can only legitimately take up the sword” in self-defense after peace efforts have failed.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/catholic-bishops-rally-behind-pope-212954329.html