By NICOLE WINFIELD<\/p>\n
ABOARD THE PAPAL PLANE (AP) \u2014\u00a0Pope Leo XIV<\/a>\u00a0on Wednesday doubled down as\u00a0U.S. President Donald Trump\u2019s criticism<\/a>\u00a0showed no sign of letting up, insisting that the message \u201cthe world needs to hear today\u201d is one of peace and dialogue.<\/p>\n Leo spoke to journalists en route to\u00a0Cameroon<\/a>\u00a0as he continued his Africa visit.<\/p>\n He made no mention of Trump\u2019s latest social media post or the suggestion by U.S. Vice President JD Vance, a Catholic convert, that he should \u201cbe careful\u201d when speaking about theology.<\/p>\n Leo took no questions. Rather, he focused on his first stop in Algeria and the teachings of\u00a0St. Augustine of Hippo<\/a>, the inspiration of his religious order and his own spirituality.<\/p>\n But Leo spoke in terms that suggested the Trump administration\u2019s criticism of the pope\u2019s calls for peace in the Iran war hadn\u2019t gone unnoticed. He spoke exclusively in English.<\/p>\n Trump has issued repeated broadsides this week against history\u2019s first U.S.-born pope, accusing him of being weak on crime and a captive to the left, and asserting that Leo owed his papacy to Trump. Trump also posted, then took down, an artificial intelligence-generated, Christ-like image of himself that drew widespread condemnation, even from many supporters.<\/p>\n Trump\u2019s attacks on Leo began after the pope amplified criticism of war and asserted that God doesn\u2019t bless those who drop bombs. Leo also called Trump\u2019s threat to annihilate Iranian civilization \u201ctruly unacceptable.\u201d<\/p>\n Overnight, Trump posted \u201cNot good!!!\u201d in response to a post citing social media posts by Leo before he was pope that were critical of Trump. And he wrote: \u201cWill someone please tell Pope Leo that Iran has killed at least 42,000 innocent, completely unarmed, protesters in the last two months, and that for Iran to have a Nuclear Bomb is absolutely unacceptable.\u201d<\/p>\n Leo points to St. Augustine and \u2018search for truth\u2019<\/p>\n Leo drew attention to his visit Tuesday to Annaba, the ancient city of Hippo where St. Augustine, the theological and philosophical giant of the early church, lived as a bishop for more than 30 years.<\/p>\n \u201cHis writings, his teaching, his spirituality, his invitation to search for God and to search for truth is something that is very much needed today, a message that is very real for all of us today as believers in Jesus Christ, but for all people,\u201d Leo said.<\/p>\n By going to Hippo, Leo said that he wanted to offer the church and the world a vision that St. Augustine offers in terms of seeking \u201cunity among all peoples and respect for all people in spite of the differences.\u201d<\/p>\n He recalled that the vast majority of Algerians are Muslim, but that they respect and honor St. Augustine as \u201cone of the great sons of their land.\u201d Such an attitude, he said, helps to build bridges between Christians and Muslims and promote dialogue.<\/p>\n And he recalled his visit to the Great Mosque of Algiers, where he stood in silent prayer.<\/p>\n \u201cI think the visit to the mosque was significant to say that although we have different beliefs, we have different ways of worshiping, we have different ways of living, we can live together in peace,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd so I think that to promote that kind of image is something which the world needs to hear today.\u201d<\/p>\n While being on the receiving end of Trump\u2019s criticisms online, Leo pointed to the respectful way that the Algerian government had received him on the first-ever papal visit \u2014 with a full military airborne escort through Algeria\u2019s airspace.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a sign of the goodness, of the generosity, of the respect that the Algerian people and the Algerian government have wished to show to the Holy See and to myself,\u201d Leo said.<\/p>\n A debate about \u2018just war\u2019<\/p>\n The Vatican\u2019s editorial director, Andrea Tornielli, was more pointed than Leo in his rebuttal of Vance, who had argued that the Catholic Church had a long tradition of endorsing so-called \u201cjust wars,\u201d when war can be morally justified.<\/p>\n Tornielli noted that the \u201cjust war\u201d theory was developed centuries ago, when wars were fought with swords, not machine-guided drones.<\/p>\n \u201cThis teaching has gradually been enriched and deepened, to the point of recognizing how increasingly difficult it is to claim that a \u2018just war\u2019 exists,\u201d Tornielli wrote on Vatican Media. Modern warfare poses a \u201creality that raises moral questions of dramatic intensity.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThere has been a growing awareness that war is not a path to be followed,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n U.S. Cardinal Robert McElroy, the archbishop of Washington, has said the U.S.-Israeli war in Iran\u00a0failed to meet the minimum criteria<\/a>\u00a0for the war to be considered morally just. Such criteria would have included that it was a response to an imminent threat, that the U.S. and Israel had clearly articulated their intentions or that the benefits would outweigh the harm.<\/p>\n