Pope Francis, asked about IDF strikes, says use of force must not be ‘over the top’
‘Defense must always be proportionate to the attack,’ says pontiff in general comments following Israel bombing in Beirut that killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah
Pope Francis was asked on Sunday about the ongoing Israeli airstrikes against the Hezbollah terror group in Lebanon, and in response criticized military attacks that he said go “beyond morality.”
On the flight back to Rome from Belgium, the pontiff said countries cannot go “over the top” in using their military forces. “Even in war there is a morality to safeguard,” he said. “War is immoral. But the rules of war give it some morality.”
Israel has ramped up fighting against Hezbollah in recent weeks, following almost a year of daily tit-for-tat exchanges with the Iran-backed group, which began attacking Israeli border communities and military posts on October 8, 2023, a day after its ally Hamas committed a massacre in southern Israel, starting the ongoing war in Gaza.
On Friday, a massive Israeli airstrike targeted Hezbollah’s underground headquarters, located below residential buildings in Beirut’s southern suburbs, killing the group’s longtime leader Hassan Nasrallah.
The strike also killed more than 20 other Hezbollah operatives, including several top commanders, the Israeli military said Sunday.
Responding to a question during an in-flight press conference Sunday about the recent strikes, the 87-year-old pope said: “Defense must always be proportionate to the attack. When there is something disproportionate, you see a tendency to dominate that goes beyond morality.”
Francis, as leader of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics, often makes calls for an end to violent conflicts, but is usually cautious about appearing to determine the aggressors. On Sunday, the pope didn’t mention Israel by name and said he was speaking in general terms.
Last week, the pope said Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon were “unacceptable” and urged the international community to do everything possible to halt the fighting. In a press conference on Saturday, he decried the deaths of Palestinian children in Israeli strikes in Gaza.
Francis said on Sunday he speaks on the phone with members of a Catholic parish in Gaza “every day.” He said the parishioners tell him about conditions on the ground, and “also the cruelty that is happening there.”
