Marco Rubio to Meet Pope Leo at Vatican to Discuss Iran Conflict

U.S. Rubio was sent from Washington after the Pope criticized President Trump’s military campaign against Iran. The secretary of state will attempt to explain the U.S. view that the action constitutes a just war. Rubio said on Tuesday that the crisis in the Strait of Hormuz put lives at risk.

The Pope, who previously led the Augustinian religious order, referenced teachings developed by St. Augustine in the 5th century when he described the Iran campaign as unjust last month. Vice President JD Vance, a Catholic since 2019, responded by questioning how one could say God is never on the side of those who wield the sword and cited troops who defeated the Nazis.

Vance warned Leo to be careful when discussing theology. Rubio, who was raised Catholic, is expected to take a more restrained approach during the meeting. The concept of just war was discussed by St. Augustine, who called on the world to kill war with the word rather than killing men with the sword.

Augustine addressed justified war only six times in his writings. In a letter in 417 AD to his friend Boniface, a Roman general, he wrote that it is not impossible for anyone to please God while engaged in active military service. Father Pasquale Cormio, who teaches at the Augustinian Patristic Pontifical Institute in Rome, said Augustine urged Boniface to fight barbarians raiding the area instead of entering a monastery.

Augustine specified that war must be defensive, a last resort after talks fail, waged by a legitimate government, free from revenge or cruelty, and intended to restore peace while keeping casualties low. These criteria are enshrined in the Catholic Church’s catechism.

Austen Ivereigh, a Vatican expert, said all of them have been ignored by the Trump administration in Iran. Ivereigh stated the most important rule is that war requires a just cause and a very immediate threat. He said the idea that Iran will have a nuclear weapon in the future does not qualify.

Ivereigh added that the war lacks approval from Congress or the United Nations, has an incoherent aim, and was not a last resort as it was launched during diplomatic negotiations. Andrea Riccardi, founder of the Sant’Egidio Catholic charity, said the Church is setting the bar higher by preferring no war at all.

Ed Condon, editor of The Pillar, a Catholic news site, said there is a conversation about the Vatican’s messaging on war appearing to drift into reflexive pacifism. Robert Barron, a conservative U.S. bishop, quoted the catechism passage stating that evaluating the moral legitimacy for war belongs to the prudential judgment of those responsible for the common good.

Cardinal Robert McElroy of Washington DC criticized that language in the catechism. He told The Tablet that whether a war is just is not determined by those who decide to go to war but by objective reality.

Background on Just War Theory St.

Augustine developed his views on justified war as a shift from earlier Christian pacifism. He believed war could have a purpose if conducted for the right reasons and with the spirit of a peacemaker. The teachings have influenced widely recognized just war rules used for centuries.

American bishops have largely opposed the war in Iran. Barron’s interpretation of the catechism makes him an exception. The Pope’s predecessor, Pope Francis, faced similar criticism for calls for peace in Ukraine that some viewed as a call for surrender.