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Politics33 outlets ran this3 min read

Pope Leo XIV Denounces Holy War Justifications

Pontiff states "no war is holy" in video message to Assisi peace gathering.

AI-assisted coverage comparison, editor-supervised · How this was made

Published Updated
Pope Leo XIV Denounces Holy War Justifications

What this story says

  • Pope Leo XIV declared "there is no such thing as a holy war" in a video message to religious leaders.
  • The Pope's in-person attendance at the Assisi gathering was cancelled as he recovers from lung cancer surgery.
  • The Assisi event commemorated the 40th anniversary of an interfaith peace meeting initiated by St. John Paul II.
  • Reports indicate that Russia's Orthodox Church has justified the invasion of Ukraine as a holy war.

Who covered it

Left 56%(9)Centre 31%(5)Right 13%(2)

Percentages are shares of the 16 outlets carrying a published leaning rating. 17 of the 33 outlets we know ran this story carry no rating and are not counted in them. Coverage measured .

Trust

42/100

Craft

59/100

Hype

20/100

33 sources · methodology

Thin on the right so far

Only 2 of the 16 outlets with a published leaning rating that ran this story are rated right.

This story is still being watched, so it is a count and not yet a finding. Coverage keeps arriving for hours after an event, and a side that has published nothing this morning may publish by tonight. If it is still true when we stop checking, we will say so plainly.

Pope Leo XIV stated that "there is no such thing as a holy war" in a video message delivered to religious leaders gathered in Assisi. He also said that "only peace is holy." The Pope was scheduled to attend the event in person but cancelled his participation as he recovers from lung cancer surgery performed on October 13. The Assisi gathering marked the 40th anniversary of an interfaith peace meeting originally called by St. John Paul II.

In his message, Pope Leo XIV denounced what he called the "troubling revival of war as an instrument of international politics" and its justification by leaders. He urged attendees to "cultivate the spirit of Assisi" and stated that "war can never be waged in the name of God." He called for rebuilding peace everywhere rather than preparing for more wars.

Disagreement on justifications for war

The Independent reported that Russia's Orthodox Church has justified Russia's invasion of Ukraine as a "holy war" against the West. The same outlet also reported that U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has invoked his Christian faith to frame the Iran war as a conflict where a Christian nation seeks to vanquish its foes. Other reports do not contain these specific claims about the justifications for the wars in Ukraine or Iran.

What the coverage left out

None of the reports printed below mention Monsignor Luis Marín de San Martín visiting Ukraine with humanitarian aid, nor do they detail the Pope's phone calls with Russian President Vladimir Putin or Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy regarding a cease-fire and aid delivery in Oleshky. No right-rated outlet ran this story.

Tags:#PopeLeoXIV#HolyWar#Assisi#Peace#InterfaithDialogue#UkraineWar

Still developing. We have re-checked which outlets are covering this 5 times, most recently on 27 Oct 2026, 19:30, and will add the sides that appear.

How each side covered it

Our own reading of the reporting listed below, written from the outlets’ articles rather than quoted from them. The reasoning is set out on our methodology page.

Left

9 rated outlets

  • The left-rated reports led with Pope Leo XIV's statement that "there is no such thing as a holy war." These reports included the Pope's cancellation of his in-person attendance due to recovery from lung cancer surgery. They also noted that the Assisi gathering marked the 40th anniversary of an interfaith peace meeting called by St. John Paul II. The Independent, which provided a full report, detailed that Russia's Orthodox Church has justified the invasion of Ukraine as a "holy war" and that U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has invoked his Christian faith to cast the Iran war as a Christian nation trying to vanquish its foes.

Centre

5 rated outlets

  • The centre-rated reports also highlighted Pope Leo XIV's declaration that "there is no such thing as a holy war" and that "only peace is holy." These digests mentioned the Pope's video message to the Assisi peace meeting and his absence from the event due to recovery from surgery. The 40th anniversary of the interfaith peace meeting initiated by St. John Paul II was also noted across these reports.

Right

2 rated outlets

We have not written our reading of the right coverage of this story. The right-rated outlets that ran it are listed below.

Questions about this coverage

How did the left and right cover Pope Leo XIV Denounces Holy War Justifications?
Of the 16 outlets on this story carrying a published leaning rating, 56% are rated left, 31% are rated centre, 13% are rated right. Those percentages are shares of the rated outlets, not of every outlet that ran it, which was 33. The sections above set out what each side emphasised, in its own terms.
Is Pope Leo XIV Denounces Holy War Justifications left or right?
Neither side dominates it. Of the 16 rated outlets on this story, 56% are rated left, 31% are rated centre, 13% are rated right, and no side holds the 70% this site would want before calling a field one-sided. A story is not left or right in any case; the outlets that carried it are what carry ratings.
Is the coverage of Pope Leo XIV Denounces Holy War Justifications biased?
Pope Leo XIV Denounces Holy War Justifications is one event reported by 33 outlets, and this page does not rate the story as biased or unbiased. What it publishes is the spread: which outlets ran it, where named rating organisations place each of them on the spectrum, and what each side chose to lead with. A leaning rating describes an outlet's record over time, not this article, and the two should not be run together.
Which side is not reporting Pope Leo XIV Denounces Holy War Justifications?
When we first saw this story, outlets rated right had barely covered it. Coverage accretes for hours after an event, so that is where to look rather than a verdict — the split above is the current count, and it is the one to read.
Which outlets covered Pope Leo XIV Denounces Holy War Justifications?
33 that we know of, every one of them listed further up this page with a link to its own report and to what we hold on the publisher. Nothing here is a summary of somebody else's summary: the outlets are named so the original reporting can be read.
What did Pope Leo XIV say about holy war?
Pope Leo XIV stated in a video message to religious leaders that "there is no such thing as a holy war" and that "only peace is holy." He denounced any religious justification for wars and urged for peace to be rebuilt.
Why did Pope Leo XIV not attend the Assisi gathering in person?
Pope Leo XIV cancelled his in-person attendance at the Assisi gathering because he was recovering from lung cancer surgery. He instead sent a video message to the religious leaders present.
What was the significance of the Assisi gathering?
The gathering in Assisi marked the 40th anniversary of a landmark interfaith peace meeting that was originally called by St. John Paul II. The event aimed to promote peace and dialogue among different religions.

Read it at the source

33 outlets, grouped by the leaning a published rating gives them. Every headline links to the original; an underlined outlet name opens our profile of that publisher.

Left

9
Show 1 more

Centre

5

Right

2

Not rated

17
Show 9 more

How did this read?

About the coverage, not about the story. We do not ask whether you agree with what happened — we have no honest use for that answer.

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