Pope Leon launched a harsh attack on the massive increase in European military spending on Thursday, stating that the rearmament of the continent „betrays trust in diplomacy” and sacrifices investments in education and health.
The statements come in the context where European states have raised their defense budgets to the highest level since the end of the Cold War, under pressure from U.S. President Donald Trump and amid the war in Ukraine, as reported by Reuters.
The Sovereign Pontiff, who has drawn Trump's ire in recent weeks after criticizing the war in Iran, told students in Rome that such rearmament should not be referred to as defense spending, adding that the world is "maimed by wars."
"Let us not call defense a rearmament that increases tensions and insecurity, impoverishes investments in education and health, betrays trust in diplomacy, and enriches elites who do not care at all about the common good," Pope Leon said.
Military spending across the continent increased by 14% in 2025, reaching $864 billion, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, against the backdrop of the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine and the rearmament process among European NATO members.
Trump has repeatedly criticized European allies, urging them to spend more on arms, and signed an executive order in February that would redefine the priority list of clients for American weapons in favor of countries with higher defense expenditures.
At Trump's urging, NATO supported a new defense spending target of 5% of GDP for its members in 2025.
Pope Leon has spoken out against the direction of global leadership in recent weeks. On Thursday, he addressed students at Sapienza University in Rome, the largest higher education institution in Europe.
The Sovereign Pontiff also warned about the use of artificial intelligence in war, citing conflicts in Ukraine, Gaza, Lebanon, and Iran as examples demonstrating the "inhuman evolution of the relationship between war and new technologies in a spiral of annihilation."
Pope urged the approximately 110,000 students of the university not to "close themselves off in ideologies and national borders."
"Together with me and many brothers and sisters, be artisans of true peace," he pleaded.