Thu 14 May 2026:
Pope Leo has decried rising European military expenditures that grew by the highest amount since the end of the Cold War last year.
Leo, who has drawn President Trump’s ire in recent weeks after criticising the US-Israel war on Iran, told university students in Rome the world is being “maimed by wars”.
“Let us not call ‘defence’ a rearmament that increases tensions and insecurity, impoverishes investments in education and health, betrays trust in diplomacy, and enriches elites who care nothing for the common good,” said the pontiff.
Pope Leo also warned about the use of artificial intelligence in warfare, citing conflicts in Ukraine, Gaza, Lebanon and Iran as showing “the inhumane evolution of the relationship between war and new technologies in a spiral of annihilation”.
Military spending across the continent rose 14% in 2025 to $864 billion, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, amid the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war and rearmament by European NATO members.
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Trump has repeatedly chastised European allies to spend more on arms, and signed an executive order in February that would re-prioritize the customer list for U.S. weapons in favour of countries with higher defence spending.
At Trump’s urging, NATO in 2025 supported a new defence spending target of 5% of GDP for its members.
Leo has been speaking out against the direction of world leadership in recent weeks. On Thursday, he was addressing students at Rome’s Sapienza University, the largest institution of higher learning in Europe.
The pope also warned about the use of artificial intelligence in warfare, citing conflicts in Ukraine, Gaza, Lebanon and Iran as showing “the inhumane evolution of the relationship between war and new technologies in a spiral of annihilation”.
Leo urged the some 110,000 students at the university not to “close themselves within ideologies and national borders”.
“Together with me and with many brothers and sisters, be artisans of true peace,” the pope pleaded.
SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES
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