Beginning in 1096, Pope Urban II issued a call to arms at the Council of Clermont. The goal was to help the Byzantine Empire fight Turkish Muslims and recover Jerusalem and other holy Christian sites that were under Islamic control. The First Crusade resulted in the capture of Jerusalem in 1099.
These crusades were considered holy wars, proclaimed and/or sanctioned by the Pope, with a religious purpose that often promised spiritual rewards like indulgences. Crusaders took a religious vow to undertake the crusades and they were presented as an act of penance and religious devotion.
In 1429, the French peasant girl who would later be known as St. Joan of Arc, entered the Hundred Years’ war, claiming that saints had instructed her to help Charles and drive the English out of France. She specifically named St. Michael the Archangel, St. Catherine of Alexandria, and St. Margaret of Antioch as her guides.
So when I see reports that Pope Leo XIV says “there is no such thing as a holy war” for any conflicts around the world, it raises my concerns.
NEW – Pope Leo XIV says “there is no such thing as a holy war,” rejecting any religious justification for conflicts around the world: “Only peace is holy.”
— Disclose.tv (@disclosetv) October 27, 2026
In this context, he’s referring to the war in Ukraine and the war in Iran. The Russian Orthodox Church has justified the conflict in Ukraine. The U.S., however, has not gone into the war with Iran under religious motives — the objectives were always to stop Iran from getting a nuclear weapon.
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“Only peace is holy.”
Yes. But only when it protects the innocent and the good.
I saw this video, of an imam reportedly in Florida, talking about the coming Islamic takeover.
🚨Florida: “We have the power and the strength, we’re gonna start forcing people to become Muslims.” pic.twitter.com/zZHxsJQose
— Red-Green Alliance Watch (@RedGreenWatch) October 26, 2026
Islam is diametrically opposed to Catholicism, and a false religion with a false God. But Muslims believe deeply in Allah and Mohammed, and will use any means necessary — from taqiyya to outright war — to subjugate the world underneath it.
When I hear leaders decry war, what it tells me is this: they will not defend me, or the Church, from the people who would subjugate and destroy us. Christians, including Catholics, in Africa are being massacred, it seems, weekly. The notion that they have to turn the other cheek or roll over to this, instead of waging war against the Islamists and others doing the slaughtering, is alarming.
Not all war is just, but to dismiss all war — even those that haven’t been fought yet — as unjust and unholy by default is a dereliction of duty and sends a very bad message to the faithful. If Catholicism is true, as I believe it to be, then it is worth defending and fighting for. Even to the point of war, if war is brought upon is. Anything less sells out that faith.
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