Leo: Rearmament is not defense

Pope Leo yesterday condemned the growth in European military spending, which last year recorded the largest jump since the end of the Cold War, due to pressure from United States President Donald Trump, calling it a betrayal of diplomacy.

Lav, who has drawn Trump's ire in recent weeks after criticizing war with Iran, told students at a university in Rome that such rearmament should not be called defense spending, adding that the world is "crippled by wars."

“Let us not call 'defense' the 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,” the pope said.

Military spending across the continent rose by 14 percent in 2025, to $864 billion, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, due to the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine and the rearmament of European NATO members.

Let us not call defense the rearmament that increases tensions and insecurity, impoverishes investments in education and health, betrays trust in diplomacy, and enriches elites who do not care about the common good, the pope said.

Trump has repeatedly criticized European allies, demanding that they spend more on weapons, and in February he signed an executive order that would rearrange the list of US arms buyers in favor of countries with higher defense spending.

At Trump's urging, NATO endorsed a new defense spending target of five percent of GDP for its members in 2025.

In recent weeks, Leo has been increasingly vocal in his criticism of the direction world leadership is taking. Yesterday, he addressed students at Rome's Sapienza University, Europe's largest higher education institution.

The Pope also warned against the use of artificial intelligence in warfare, stating that the conflicts in Ukraine, Gaza, Lebanon and Iran demonstrate "the inhuman evolution of the relationship between war and new technologies in a spiral of destruction."

Leo called on the university's approximately 110.000 students to "not close yourselves off within ideologies and national borders." "Together with me and with many brothers and sisters, be creators of true peace," the pope said.