Overview
- Pope Leo, speaking at Rome’s Sapienza University on Thursday, said rising military spending is not true defense and warned that war‑fighting with artificial intelligence must not strip humans of responsibility.
- President Trump has attacked the pontiff in recent weeks, calling him a “disaster” on foreign policy, while Italy’s prime minister and leading U.S. bishops publicly backed the Pope’s call for peace.
- In a separate move, the Vatican said leaders of the traditionalist Pius Society would incur automatic excommunication if they carry out unauthorized bishop ordinations planned for July 1 in Écône, Switzerland.
- The Pius Society says it needs more bishops because only two remain, but Vatican officials note the group’s history of illicit 1988 consecrations that led to excommunications later lifted in 2009.
- Analysts warn the Pope–Trump rift could hurt the president with Catholic swing voters, who play a decisive role in states like Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Arizona.