Pope Leo XIV has criticized a European rush to rearm, warning it is diverting resources from education and health, as he reiterated his message of peace.

“Over the past year, the increase in military spending worldwide, and particularly in Europe, has been enormous,” the pope said in a speech at the Sapienza University in Rome on Thursday. “Let us not call defense a rearmament that increases tensions and insecurity, deprives investment in education and health, undermines trust in diplomacy, and enriches elites who care nothing for the common good.”

The pontiff’s remarks are some of the most direct yet against the escalation of military spending and international conflicts. They could also be seen as another indirect swipe at U.S. President Donald Trump, who last year forced North Atlantic Treaty Organization allies to ramp up defense spending.

Pope Leo, who has called himself a peacemaker, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and Trump have clashed over the last few weeks after the pontiff’s condemned the war in Iran. Earlier this month, Trump said that the pope was “endangering” Catholics and suggested that he was too tolerant of Iran’s nuclear ambitions.

“If someone wants to criticize me for proclaiming the Gospel, let him do so truthfully,” the pope said in an apparent response.

Addressing students and faculty, Pope Leo invoked the legacy of past conflicts, saying that “the tragedies of the twentieth century must not be forgotten. The cry ‘never again war!’ of my predecessors, so in line with the rejection of war enshrined in the Italian constitution, urges us to form a spiritual alliance with the sense of justice that dwells in the hearts of young people.”

He also urged closer scrutiny of artificial intelligence in both military and civilian uses, warning against systems that could erode human accountability or intensify modern warfare. “What is happening in Ukraine, in Gaza and the Palestinian territories, in Lebanon and in Iran,” he added,” illustrates the inhuman evolution of the relationship between war and new technologies in a spiral of destruction.”

Pope Leo, the first pontiff to hail from the U.S., has become increasingly vocal in his defense of peace since being elected in May of 2025. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio visited Rome in a fence-mending trip last week.

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