In recent weeks, a sharp and unusually public tension has emerged between Donald Trump and Pope Leo XIV over issues of war, morality, and the role of religion in public life. Much of the attention has focused on tone and rhetoric – particularly the sharp and often dismissive language used by President Trump – but that focus risks obscuring what is, in my view, the more important substantive issue: on certain questions of war and moral responsibility, the pope is not only mistaken, but his position is morally wrong and ultimately damaging for the good of the world and for humanity, and that needs to be said clearly.

The following points, however, can all be true at the same time.

First, the pope is entirely within his rights to apply his religious teachings to contemporary global issues. The purpose of religion is not to remain in the realm of abstract study, but to bring moral and theological values to bear on real-world challenges. A religious leader who refrains from engaging questions of war, justice, and human suffering would be abdicating a central aspect of his role.

Second, while I understand that President Trump often speaks in a combative and direct manner, I am not comfortable with that style, particularly in this context. The dismissive and........

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