Pope Francis, Asked about Israeli Strikes, Slams Attacks That Go ‘Beyond Morality’

Pope Francis talks to journalists on the flight back to Rome at the end of his four-day visit to Belgium and Luxembourg, September 29, 2024. (Reuters)
Pope Francis talks to journalists on the flight back to Rome at the end of his four-day visit to Belgium and Luxembourg, September 29, 2024. (Reuters)
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Pope Francis, Asked about Israeli Strikes, Slams Attacks That Go ‘Beyond Morality’

Pope Francis talks to journalists on the flight back to Rome at the end of his four-day visit to Belgium and Luxembourg, September 29, 2024. (Reuters)
Pope Francis talks to journalists on the flight back to Rome at the end of his four-day visit to Belgium and Luxembourg, September 29, 2024. (Reuters)

Pope Francis, asked on Sunday about Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon that killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah as well as non-combatants, 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."

Responding to a question during an in-flight press conference about Israel's latest 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. He has spoken more openly in recent weeks about Israel's military actions in its nearly year-long war against Hamas.

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 Sept. 28 press conference, 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".



Study: Highest Number of Conflicts Worldwide in 2024 Since 1946

Palestinians mourn their relatives who were killed in an Israeli military strike on Gaza, during their funeral in al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City, Tuesday, June 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
Palestinians mourn their relatives who were killed in an Israeli military strike on Gaza, during their funeral in al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City, Tuesday, June 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
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Study: Highest Number of Conflicts Worldwide in 2024 Since 1946

Palestinians mourn their relatives who were killed in an Israeli military strike on Gaza, during their funeral in al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City, Tuesday, June 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
Palestinians mourn their relatives who were killed in an Israeli military strike on Gaza, during their funeral in al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City, Tuesday, June 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

The world saw the highest number of armed conflicts in almost 80 years in 2024, dethroning 2023 as a record year, a Norwegian study published Wednesday showed, highlighting the risks linked to a US disengagement.

Last year, 61 conflicts were registered in the world across 36 countries, with some countries experiencing several simultaneous conflicts, the report by the Peace Research Institute of Oslo (Prio) said.

In 2023, there were 59 conflicts in 34 countries, AFP reported.

"This is not just a spike -- it's a structural shift," said Siri Aas Rustad, the main author of the report which covers trends in armed conflicts in the period 1946-2024.

"The world today is far more violent, and far more fragmented, than it was a decade ago," she said.

Africa remained the most ravaged continent, with 28 conflicts involving at least one state, followed by Asia with 17, the Middle East with 10, Europe with three and the Americas with two.

More than half of these countries experienced two or more conflicts.

The number of deaths resulting from fighting remained around the same level as in 2023, at about 129,000, making 2024 the fourth-deadliest year since the end of the Cold War in 1989, the study said.

The death toll was led by the wars in Ukraine and the Gaza Strip, as well as clashes in the Tigray region of Ethiopia.

"Now is not the time for the United States -– or any global power -– to retreat from international engagement," Rustad said.

"Isolationism in the face of rising global violence would be a profound mistake with long-term human life consequences," she said, a reference to US President Donald Trump's "America First" campaign.

"It is a mistake to assume the world can look away. Whether under President Trump or any future administration, abandoning global solidarity now would mean walking away from the very stability the US helped build after 1945," she said.

The study is based on data compiled by Sweden's Uppsala University.