In the months after Robert Prevost became Pope Leo XIV, in May 2025, he kept a relatively low profile. He fulfilled prescheduled trips to Turkey and Lebanon and released just one pontifical document, on the church’s love for the poor, begun by Pope Francis. But in 2026, Leo has come into his own with biblical messaging against war. At a Mass on January 1, after the Trump administration had killed more than 100 people by attacking boats in international waters in the preceding four months, the pope challenged policies undermining “diplomacy, mediation, and international law.” In an annual address to Vatican-accredited diplomats from 184 countries eight days later, he was even more pointed in his criticism: “War is back in vogue and a zeal for war is spreading.” The Vatican’s criticism of militaristic policy caught the attention of the U.S. Department of Defense, which summoned the Holy See’s longtime nuncio (ambassador) to the Pentagon in late January.…