Jailed French journalist drops appeal in Algeria and eyes presidential pardon

French journalist Christophe Gleizes has withdrawn his appeal to Algeria’s highest court, in a move his family hopes will open the door to a presidential pardon – and, ultimately, his release.

Issued on: 05/05/2026 - RFI

A portrait of Christophe Gleizes is unveiled during a demonstration organised by the Occitanie Press Club and Reporters Without Borders to demand his release, in Montpellier, France on 29 January. AFP - GABRIEL BOUYS

The 36-year-old sports reporter, currently imprisoned in Algeria, has decided to drop his case before the Court of Cassation – a step described by his family as both calculated and symbolic.

Speaking on France Inter radio on Tuesday, his mother Sylvie Godard said the decision demonstrated a deliberate show of trust in Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune.

“He is placing his complete trust in President Tebboune’s clemency. It is a very powerful, symbolic gesture,” she said.

The family believes the move could significantly improve the chances of a pardon, particularly as diplomatic relations between France and Algeria have shown signs of warming after a prolonged period of tension.

Gleizes was arrested in May 2024 while reporting in the Kabylie region and was later sentenced on appeal in December to seven years in prison on charges of “glorifying terrorism” – allegations his supporters strongly contest.

Diplomatic thaw

Gleizes’ relatives are cautiously optimistic that a recent improvement in bilateral ties could work in his favour. His stepfather, Francis Godard, pointed to a shifting political climate between the two countries as a key factor.

“If Christophe is in prison, it is also because of opposition and a climate of hostility between our two countries,” he said, adding that recent developments suggest “a new phase” in relations.

A notable moment came with the February visit of French Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez to Algeria, where he met Tebboune. The trip marked an effort to ease a diplomatic crisis that has been simmering since the summer of 2024

For the family, these developments offer a glimmer of hope.

They were able to visit Gleizes on 21 April at Koléa prison, west of Algiers, and described him as resilient. “He is strong. And he makes us fight for him,” said his mother.

Support has also come from prominent figures, including former French minister Ségolène Royal, now head of the France-Algeria association, who visited the journalist again on 1 May. According to the family, she too found him “in good spirits”.

INTERVIEW

'Economic diplomacy' key in Algeria, French employers' union chief tells RFI

Following a recent visit to Algeria, Patrick Martin – the head of France’s main employers’ union, Medef – spoke to RFI about economic diplomacy at a time of strained relations between Paris and Algiers, Chinese competition in Africa and what he called the “savagery” of the current tariff war.


Issued on: 06/05/2026 - RFI

Algerian and French flags fly in the Algerian capital Algiers in 2022. 

AFP - ALAIN JOCARD


RFI: You’ve just returned from a four-day visit to Algeria, where you kept a relatively low profile. Perhaps because given tensions over last two years, it’s best not to say anything that might cause offence?

Patrick Martin: I wouldn’t say I kept a low profile. Algerian media, for instance, covered the visit quite extensively. But by accepting the invitation of my Algerian counterpart at the council for Algerian economic renewal (CREA), I do think I’ve helped to stabilise what are important and historic relations between France and Algeria.

RFI: Since the diplomatic rift in 2024, Algeria has been importing far fewer French products – cereals and cattle, for example. Do you expect those exports to pick up again after your visit?

PM: I certainly hope so. But we shouldn’t overstate things either. France remains, for example, Algeria’s second-largest foreign investor. I saw some excellent French companies operating there, often run by dual nationals. So yes, our exports have fallen, and others are taking our place. Italy comes to mind, but also Germany and Turkey. We need to be attentive, because Algeria has real potential. It has a sizeable domestic market – nearly 47 million people – and like I said, there are some very strong businesses there. That said, there are a number of issues where the state is interfering, and clearly we would like those to be resolved.

French employers' lobby group Medef president Patrick Martin in 2024. © AP - Ludovic Marin

RFI: After Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez's visit, does this mean France and Algeria are patching things up through security and business ties?

PM: I firmly believe, in my own role, in economic diplomacy. That’s what led me, for example, to travel to China last year with the foreign minister, to help resolve the very sensitive issue of our Cognac and Armagnac exports. It’s also in that spirit that, a few years ago, we helped mend relations between Italy and France when they had briefly deteriorated diplomatically. I also travelled to Morocco several times in the first half of 2024, and I think it’s fair to say that, together with our Moroccan counterparts, we helped strengthen state-to-state relations there as well. Without overstating our influence, I do believe economic diplomacy plays an important role in international relations.

RFI: So are you effectively a second foreign minister?

PM: Certainly not. I think the economy is important enough to stand on its own.

RFI: Another major event is the upcoming Africa-France summit in Nairobi, with a large business forum expecting around 2,000 African and French participants. Does this suggest French business is turning away from francophone Africa in favour of English-speaking countries?

PM: No, not at all. I’d point out that five years ago the Medef launched the Alliance of Francophone Employers’ Organisations – a business initiative alongside long-standing political and cultural ties. But in the major reshuffle of global trade, we have to take an interest in all kinds of countries, whether they’re francophone or not, if there is demand.

RFI: Are French companies sometimes more cautious than their Chinese or Turkish competitors in certain African markets?

PM: French companies have a strength – and perhaps it’s true of the French more generally – when they set up somewhere, they’re there for the long term. It hasn’t escaped me that the Chinese, in particular, are very aggressive in certain sectors. But we also see that they can leave as quickly as they arrived. They’re highly competitive because they are very predatory, very aggressive on pricing. We’re fairly convinced that, in a number of cases, on major contracts, they are operating at a loss – and that’s probably part of a state-driven strategy of influence.

A photograph shows the port of Algiers, Algeria, on 16 February, 2026. 

AFP - STRINGER


RFI: In which sectors, for example?

PM: Infrastructure.

RFI: So they’re building stadiums, roads, bridges at a loss?

PM: At the very least, it’s hard to see how they’re making money at the prices they’re offering on certain contracts.

Despite pause on US tariffs, African economies face uncertain future

RFI: On the sidelines of this year’s G7 summit in France, Medef is organising a business summit bringing together employers’ organisations from the seven richest Western economies. What impact could that have for Africa?

PM: Any impact for Africa would be indirect. Our priority – shared by my counterparts in the United States, Germany, the UK, Japan and Italy – is to restore rules to economic and trade relations, because what we’re seeing at the moment is a form of savagery creeping into global trade.

RFI: What are you referring to?

PM: Tariffs. We need international trade, we need well-designed, sensible free trade agreements. Otherwise – to put it simply – the 20 percent of French workers whose jobs depend on exports could see those jobs come under threat. So the seven business organisations I’ve mentioned are calling for this, and we will be telling our governments that rules need to be restored.

RFI: Would that also benefit American businesses?

PM: Of course. They themselves are unsettled. I won’t go any further than that, but they are clearly affected by the back-and-forth decisions their own administration is making in international relations.

This interview has been adapted from the original in French by Christophe Boisbouvier and lightly edited for clarity.

Structural Gas Demand Destruction Threatens Global LNG Market

By Irina Slav - Apr 26, 2026

• The Middle East war is disrupting gas supply and driving demand destruction, with LNG imports—especially in Asia—falling sharply due to high prices and supply shortages.
• 
  
• Short-term shocks risk becoming structural, as prolonged conflict could permanently alter demand patterns and delay or erase the expected global gas oversupply.
• 
  
• Alternative suppliers can’t fully fill the gap, with U.S. LNG stepping in while African and other producers remain underutilized, prolonging market tightness.
• 
  

The impact of the war in the Middle East could lead to structural demand destruction on the world’s natural gas markets, the head of the Gas Exporting Countries’ Forum warned in the latest sign of the far-reaching impacts of the hostilities between the United States and Israel, and Iran.

The war has already disrupted international gas flows because of the Strait of Hormuz closure and the strikes on energy infrastructure in the Persian Gulf, which were Iran’s retaliation for U.S. and Israeli strikes that began at the end of February. Resumption of gas exports would take months, according to the GECF’s Philip Mshelbila—if the war ends soon. If it drags on, however, the effects of the supply disruption could become permanent.

“If the conflict ended today, the world would recover in six months to a year. But if it lasts six months, those knee-jerk changes we are seeing could become structural,” Mshelbila said, speaking at an industry event in Paris, as quoted by Reuters.

The executive also recalled that most predictions for the gas market saw it flipping into oversupply this year. The glut was, according to analysts, going to be the result of new capacity coming online in the United States while demand grows more slowly. “Clearly this conflict has done something ‌to that, and it's not yet clear whether it's just a delay, or whether in fact that glut will ever come,” the secretary-general of the Gas Exporting Countries’ Forum said.

Even if a glut comes, it will not be coming anytime soon. The latest data for Asia suggests that imports of liquefied natural gas are on course to record their lowest monthly level in close to six years, Reuters’ Clyde Russell reported this week. The numbers come from Kpler and are evidence of demand destruction resulting from the war. In some cases, this is voluntary demand cuts, such as in the case of China, for instance. In others, such as Pakistan, the destruction is organic, prompted by the higher prices that LNG is fetching amid the supply cuts.

Asia is set to import some 19.03 million tons of liquefied gas this month, which would be down from 20.69 million tons for March and a seasonal high of 26.34 million tons for December 2025, the Kpler data showed. For China, however, the drop is much more marked, with the April total seen at 3.36 million tons. That would be down from 7.66 million tons for December 2025 and the lowest since April 2018, Reuters’ Russell noted.

With Qatari LNG mostly gone, importers are switching to U.S. gas and, to a lesser extent, Russian gas. Volumes from other producers are not changing, even though they have the resources, GECF’s Philip Mshelbila noted.

“Sadly while some African countries have excess capacity in both LNG and pipeline gas, the majority of them if not all are not producing at full capacity,” he said, adding that “If you look at the export pipelines to Europe, from Algeria or from Libya, not one of them is full.” Because of this, it is U.S. liquefied that is replacing most of the lost volumes from the Middle East.

The executive pointed out that this is because African LNG producers are operating below capacity, without elaborating on the reasons for that. However, Nigeria has been exporting more LNG to Asia since the war in the Middle East began, and there are plans in place to boost the capacity of its LNG plant from 22 million tons to 30 million tons.

Algerian gas deliveries to Europe are also on the rise—even before the war began. Last year, Algeria exported a total 39-40 billion cu m of natural gas via pipeline and as LNG. That represented 13 to 14% of Europe’s total gas imports, Euronews reported recently, comparing it to 12 billion cu m in Qatari gas imports, which translates into a share of between 7% and 9% of total gas imports.

The problem comes from the fact that Algeria could not boost its exports to Europe fast enough to plug the hole left by the force majeure at QatarEnergy’s Ras Laffan complex. Yet the North African country is making steps in that direction: earlier this week, Algiers launched an oil and gas tender for seven blocks, with bids due by November. This is part of the government’s plan to increase natural gas production to 200 billion cu m annually by 2030. The investment required to do this is estimated at between $50 and $60 billion.

Yet these are long-term plans, while the supply pain is quite immediate. It is this immediacy of the problem that could transform into chronic demand weakness. “Normally in a situation of crisis this is an opportunity: Fill it up! Seize the market! Unfortunately, we are missing out, because we don't have the upstream molecules to fill the infrastructure,” GECF’s Mshelbila said. “The reserves are there, but they are still in the ground.”

By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com

Search Called off for Cruise Crewmember Who Went Overboard off Cape Cod

iStock

Published Apr 26, 2026 10:53 PM by The Maritime Executive

 

The U.S. Coast Guard has called off a search for a crewmember who fell overboard from the cruise ship Norwegian Breakaway off the coast of Wellfleet, Massachusetts on Saturday night. 

Norwegian Breakaway made a routine commercial voyage to Bermuda last week and was on the way back to port on Saturday. The search was initiated after the cruise ship notified the Coast Guard that a man had gone over the side. A camera had caught video footage of a man falling overboard from an upper deck level. Passengers reported that parts of decks seven and eight were closed down during the initial search, and that an alert of an MOB in progress on the port side has been issued. 

The cruise ship reversed course and initiated a search, and a U.S. Coast Guard helicopter aircrew joined in at about 0100 hours Sunday morning. The search was called off at 1225 hours on Sunday afternoon. Norwegian Breakaway has since returned to port in Boston. 

"The safety, security, and well-being of our crew is our highest priority," said operator Norwegian Cruise Line in a statement. "Our thoughts are with the crewmember's family during this difficult time."

Roughly 20-25 man-overboard incidents happen on cruise ships around the world ever year; the odds of survival are low, and most are fatal. Cruise ships' rails are high and built to prevent accidents, so casualties often involve circumstances outside of daily norms. The cause of Saturday's casualty is still under investigation.  

Cruise Ship Sapphire Princess Recovers Five Bodies From the Mediterranean

Sapphire Princess (file image courtesy Sabung Hamster / CC BY SA 4.0)

Published Apr 23, 2026 9:54 PM by The Maritime Executive

On Tuesday, the crew of the cruise ship Sapphire Princess took on the difficult task of recovering five bodies from the waters of the western Mediterranean.

After departing Cagliari on Monday evening on a routine voyage to Cartagena, Sapphire Princess encountered signs of a distress situation at a position about 80 nautical miles to the northwest of Algiers. After a lifejacket was spotted in the water, the crew turned back on their course and launched a rescue boat to investigate. They found the body of a deceased man, and recovered the remains for safe return to the ship. About one hour later, a second body was spotted, then three more. 

Passengers observed the recoveries unfold, and several described the experience on social media. Princess Cruises has offered counseling to staff and passengers who wish to take advantage of it. 

"It was very somber. They closed all the blinds on the public dining and drinking decks," one passenger reported. "Everyone was up from their tables to see the commotion and then after we heard the call over the speaker."

The Sapphire Princess resumed her commercial voyage to Cartagena after the recovery operation, and delivered the bodies to authorities on shore. 

Princess Cruises noted in a statement that the victims were not passengers or crewmembers of the vessel. "We extend our sincere condolences for this loss and are grateful to our crew for their swift response and efforts to render assistance," Princess said.

Spain's National Police are investigating whether the victims may be connected to a small boat that was discovered adrift off Cartagena recently. On Monday afternoon, a French Navy patrol ship found a small migrant boat drifting off Murcia. Three bodies and two survivors were aboard. All were delivered to Cartagena by a rescue boat from the Salvamento Maritimo lifesaving service. 

The survivors were treated and taken into custody by the National Police for questioning. They told investigators that they had departed North Africa to reach Spain and had been at sea for as much as three weeks. Based on evidence available, the police have questions about how many people were on board at the time of departure, how many others may have died on the crossing, and whether any acts of violence were committed by some of those aboard.

About 500 people died or disappeared on the Western Mediterranean migration route last year, according to the UN International Organization for Migration (IOM), out of a total of roughly 8,000 irregular arrivals by sea.

The Paris movement that planted the seeds of Algerian independence, a century on

In 1926, migrant workers in Paris formed a small political group named North African Star, the first movement to call for Algerian independence and freedom from French rule – decades before decolonisation became a reality.


Issued on: 17/04/2026 - 

Algeria’s national flag, featuring a red star, originated with the North African Star movement. AFP - FAYEZ NURELDINE

At the time the group came together, Algeria was part of France, while Morocco and Tunisia were French protectorates. Political and trade union activity was banned in the colonies, forcing activists to mobilise in mainland France instead.

North African Star was created by workers, mainly from Algeria, who had migrated to France, beginning as a mutual aid association defending social rights before gradually becoming political.

Abdelkader Hadj Ali led the organisation, alongside Messali Hadj, who would later become its central figure. Its structure followed labour movement models, with committees and cells, and it maintained close ties with Communist circles active in anti-colonial struggles.

The French Communist Party had created the Union Intercoloniale, a network bringing together activists from the colonies to demand political and social equality. Among them was Nguyen Ai Quoc – later known as Ho Chi Minh.

North African Star grew out of this environment.

“The idea was to say: since every path is closed to us in our country, we will form a first core in mainland France,” historian Alain Ruscio told RFI.

Under France’s admittedly limited democratic freedoms, trade union activity could not be fully banned – allowing North African workers to band together.

The rise of Messali Hadj

By 1927, the movement had adopted a clear political aim. Its programme, presented in Brussels, called for a struggle “all the way to independence”.

Relations with the Communist Party, however, soon became strained.

“They were in the same bed, but did not have the same dreams,” Ruscio said, with the Communists seeing colonial workers as a potential militant force.

French authorities too quickly saw the group as a threat. It was dissolved in 1929 for posing a danger to the state, and its members closely monitored.

Hadj, who had become the movement’s leading figure, spent 22 years under house arrest or in prison.

Born in 1898 in Tlemcen, he had served in the French army during the First World War and joined the Communist Party in his twenties, while remaining a practising Muslim.

“In Algeria, the idea that religious faith and Communist commitment were compatible was deeply rooted,” Ruscio said. Cell meetings would pause for prayer before resuming.

Hadj stood apart from other Algerian political currents, which focused on gaining equal rights within the French system. His aim was independence, led by Algerians themselves.

His influence first grew among migrants in France before reaching Algeria. In 1936, speaking in Algiers, he urged supporters to mobilise and make their voices heard across the Mediterranean.

Algerian Messali Hadj, leader of the MNA (Algerian National Movement) held under house arrest, gives a press conference 4 May 1962, in the courtyard of the Toutevoie castle in Gouvieux, near Chantilly, north of Paris. AFP

Building resistance in Paris

France's Popular Front government again dissolved North African Star on 26 January, 1937. Around 5,000 members were affected and several leaders, including Hadj, were arrested.

The Communist Party supported the decision, marking a clear break with the movement.

During the Second World War, Nazi Germany sought to court nationalist movements in the colonies, but Hadj refused any agreement with the Axis powers.

Although the organisation initially aimed to unite North Africa, it remained largely Algerian in character.

After its dissolution, it reformed under new names, including the Algerian People’s Party and later the Movement for the Triumph of Democratic Liberties.

But divisions emerged over armed struggle. Hadj rejected that path and warned it would lead to heavy losses and ultimately delay independence, Ruscio said.

When younger militants pushed towards armed action, Hadj warned them they were heading towards “a massacre, a bloodbath” and risked repeating the violence of May 1945 in eastern Algeria.

French authorities chose to violently repress the demonstration on 8 May 1945 in Setif, Algeria. © INA

• 
  
• France faces pressure at home to admit 1945 colonial massacre of Algerians

Rival groups later took up arms, including the FLN, the National Liberation Front, leading to violent clashes. Nearly 4,000 deaths were recorded among Algerians in France during the war of independence.

A century after its creation, North African Star has largely faded from public memory – although its legacy remains visible in Algeria’s national flag, which originated with the movement.

This story was adapted from the original version in French by Anne Bernas.

SOUNDTRACK

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Fanon’s other writings include ... (1959; A Dying Colonialism), collections of essays written during his time with El Moudjahid. (2019) Peau noire,...

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Pope Leo XIV lands in Angola, says it is 'not in my interest at all' to debate Trump

By Manuel Ribeiro

Published on 18/04/2026 - EURONEWS

After visiting Cameroon, Angola is the third leg of Pope Leo XIV's 11-day tour of Africa. People hope for appeals for peace and for him to tackle the economic woes of the oil- and rare-earth-rich nation.

After visiting Cameroon, Pope Leo XIV landed in Luanda, Angola on Saturday, where he was welcomed by faithful. The Holy Father is about to become the third pontiff to visit Angola, after John Paul II (1992) and Benedict XVI (2009).

Meanwhile, during Pope Leo XIV's plane journey on Saturday he said that it was “not in my interest at all” to debate President Donald Trump about the US-Israeli war in Iran.

But the American pope also took the opportunity to set the record straight, insisting that not everything he says was directed at Trump, but reflects the broader Gospel message of peace.

As soon as Pope Leo XIV landed in Luanda he was scheduled to meet with Angola’s president, João Lourenço, and deliver a speech, the latest on a trip during which he has been stepping up his rhetoric, after becoming the target of criticism from Donald Trump.

On Sunday, the Holy Father will travel by helicopter to the village of Muxima, around 130 kilometres south-east of Luanda, where a 16th-century church built by the Portuguese has become one of Africa’s most important pilgrimage sites.

Five hundred years ago, this Marian shrine became a key point in the transatlantic trade in human beings run by the Portuguese, serving as the place where enslaved people were baptised before being shipped to the Americas.

A new basilica is currently being built in Muxima, part of a multi-million-dollar government project to turn the site into a major tourist destination.

“It is a historic moment of grace, a moment of deep emotion, with tears in our eyes and gratitude in our hearts,” said the rector of the shrine, Father Mpindi Lubanzadio Alberto, speaking to the Catholic news website ACI Africa.

The rector of the Sanctuary of Our Lady of the Conception of Muxima, in the Diocese of Viana, Angola, spoke about the planned apostolic visit of Pope Leo XIV as a decisive spiritual moment for the country.

Tens of thousands of worshippers are expected to travel there to see the leader of the Catholic Church. Pope Leo XIV calls for world peace are likely to resonate in Angola, which in 2002 emerged from a 27-year civil war that broke out after independence from Portugal in 1975.

As well as his appeals for peace, Pope Leo XIV is expected to address the issue of corruption and exploitation in the country, where, despite its vast fossil fuel reserves, a third of the population lives below the poverty line.

Angola is currently Africa’s fourth-largest oil producer and ranks among the world’s top 20, according to the International Energy Agency. It is also the world’s third-largest producer of diamonds and has significant deposits of gold and rare earths.

Yet despite its varied natural resources, the World Bank estimated in 2023 that more than 30% of the population was living on less than €1.83 a day.

Angola has a population of about 38 million, and 44% of Angolans are Catholic. The country gained independence from Portugal in 1975 but still bears the scars of a devastating civil war that began soon afterwards and dragged on, with ups and downs, for 27 years before ending in 2002. It is estimated that more than half a million people lost their lives.

During his four-day visit to Angola, Pope Leo XIV will direct his message particularly to young people, seeking to offer them hope and healing, the Vatican has said.

Pope Leo XIV's tour of the African continent included stops in Algeria and Cameroon, after he visits in Angola, Pope Leo XIV will mark his last stop in Equatorial Guinea.

White House vs the pope: What is behind the clash and Catholic just war doctrine?

Copyright AP Photo

By Aleksandar Brezar
Published on 17/04/2026

EURONEWS

Theologians Euronews spoke to believe that the escalating war of words between Washington and the Holy See has raised important questions over Catholic and Christian moral thought.

When US Vice President JD Vance converted to Catholicism in 2019, he chose Saint Augustine as his patron.

On Tuesday, speaking at a Turning Point USA event, Vance invoked the tradition of the fifth-century theologian and one of the most important Church fathers to push back against Pope Leo XIV's criticism of the war in Iran.

The White House number two warned the pontiff to "be careful when he talks about matters of theology," citing "more than a 1,000-year tradition of just war theory" in his defence.

Meanwhile, the supreme pontiff of the Catholic Church was in the Algerian port city of Annaba, paying homage at the basilica not far from where St Augustine died and was initially interred.

Hippo Regius, as it was known in the bishop's time, is where St Augustine wrote most of what became the intellectual basis of the just war principles Vance was claiming to defend. Pope Leo XIV is the first pontiff to hail from the Augustinian order.

Whether Vance knew what the Holy Father’s itinerary was that day, his office did not say.

Vice President JD Vance shakes hands with Turning Point USA spokesperson Andrew Kolvet during a Turning Point USA event in Athens, GA, 14 April 2026 AP Photo

Vance was not the first member of the administration to weigh in.

Days earlier, US President Donald Trump had posted on Truth Social and later reiterated to the press that Pope Leo XIV was “weak on crime" and "terrible for foreign policy," suggesting the pontiff believed Tehran should be allowed to develop nuclear weapons.

The pope never made any comments regarding the Islamic Republic’s right to nukes.

The post came after the pope had called Trump's threat to destroy Iran's "whole civilisation" "truly unacceptable".

Pope Leo XIV responded the following morning on board the papal plane to Algiers. "I'm not afraid of the Trump administration or of speaking out loudly about the message of the Gospel," he said.

"I will continue to speak out loudly against war, looking to promote peace, promoting dialogue and multilateral relationships among the states to look for just solutions to problems."

What the doctrine says

Just war theory, rooted in St Augustine and further elaborated on by Thomas Aquinas in his Summa Theologiae, sets out strict conditions for the moral use of military force.

The threat must be lasting, grave and certain, and success must be realistically achievable. Most importantly, all other means of resolution must be genuinely exhausted, and the harm caused must not exceed the harm it seeks to prevent.

Put simply, the purpose of this set of rules is to prevent those engaged in war from being the final judges of their own righteousness.

"The just war doctrine doesn't merely ask whether your cause feels just," Joseph Capizzi, Dean of the School of Theology and Religious Studies at the Catholic University of America, told Euronews. “As we all know, everybody thinks their situation is just."

"It understands that most people think of their causes as just. But it is a means by which you can distinguish legitimately just causes of war from illegitimate causes of war.”

Pontificial Swiss Guards enter the St Damasus Courtyard at the Vatican ahead of the arrival of French President Emmanuel Macron, 10 April 2026 AP Photo

The doctrine has also shifted in how it is applied. For most of its history, it was used by priests to authorise their rulers' wars. Spurred on by world wars and the discovery of nuclear weapons, the modern papacy has used it in the other direction.

"Before, just war doctrine was used often by national clergy to give permission to their emperor or their king to go to war," Massimo Faggioli, professor of ecclesiology at Trinity College Dublin told Euronews.

"Right now, it is used mostly — I would say almost always — to say ‘well, no, this military intervention doesn't meet those criteria.’”

Writing as the Roman Empire crumbled, St Augustine had already posed the question of what is righteous in one of the most well-known open checks on power in Catholic moral thought.

"Justice removed,” he asked in The City of God, “what are kingdoms but great bands of robbers?"

Vance has cited The City of God as “the best criticism of our modern age” he has ever read, deeply affecting his religious outlook and thoughts on domestic and foreign policy.

Vatican’s track record

The administration's framing of Pope Leo XIV as a pacifist who simply does not understand that force is sometimes necessary contradicts the pontiff’s and the Church’s track record, experts say.

Before his election just last year, the pontiff was a registered Republican voter. While he has criticised the Iran war, the Holy Father has shown support for Ukraine's right to self-defence.

In recent decades, past popes also carefully deliberated the context before commenting on any given conflict.

The Holy See quietly regarded the post-September 11 intervention in Afghanistan as meeting just war criteria, as the US went after Taliban extremists and Al-Qaeda’s Osama bin Laden.

Yet Pope John Paul II opposed both the 1991 Gulf War and 2003 invasion of Iraq not as a pacifist, but on the grounds that last resort had not been demonstrated. Pope Leo XIV’s position on Iran is in line with his predecessors, according to theologians.

Charlie Company Task Force 1-64 of the 3rd Infantry Division rolls into a major park in downtown Baghdad, 7 April 2003 Brant Sanderlin/ 2003 Atlanta Journal-Constit

"To accuse the pope of being a pacifist is really absurd," Faggioli said. "Vance and Trump are accusing the pope of thinking about war like a European Catholic. But that's not true.”

"He is using just war doctrine — and the American cardinals who have spoken against the war in Iran, they have used just war doctrine in ways that Europeans would not. So this is, in some sense, an intra-American debate."

There is also the matter of what Vance actually said — not just about just war, but about the pope's remit, after he suggested Pope Leo XIV should confine himself to morality and stay out of foreign policy, Faggioli explained.

"Vance is one of those typical Catholics who thinks that morality is only sexual morality," Faggioli said. "When he said the pope should stick only to morality, he meant sexual morality — as if war were not a matter of morality. Of course it is."

Thousand-year tradition and its tenets

The US bishops and other Catholic Church clergy indeed did not stay quiet. On Wednesday, Chairman of the USCCB Committee on Doctrine Bishop James Massa issued a statement in support of the Holy Father’s position, but also the Catholic Church as a whole.

"A constant tenet of that thousand-year tradition is a nation can only legitimately take up the sword 'in self-defence, once all peace efforts have failed,'" Massa, auxiliary bishop of Brooklyn, wrote.

"When Pope Leo XIV speaks as supreme pastor of the universal Church, he is not merely offering opinions on theology. He is preaching the Gospel and exercising his ministry as the Vicar of Christ."

A woman holds a rosary as she attends a vigil for peace led by Pope Leo XIV inside St Peter's Basilica at the Vatican, 11 April 2026 Gregorio Borgia/Copyright 2026 The AP. All rights reserved

Unlike in other public exchanges in recent times with those opposing Washington’s view, the Trump administration has struggled to find the usual levers, experts say. "It's very hard for them to use the usual tactics to delegitimise the pope, because he is American," Faggioli said.

"They can't call him a communist, they can't call him a radical leftist — his record as a theologian doesn't support that."

Euronews contacted several Catholic institutions and theologians for perspectives to further outline the Trump administration's application of just war doctrine, but none agreed to speak on the record.

‘A consistent lesson of our faith’

On Thursday, from a peace meeting in Cameroon — a country not without its own existing tensions — the pope said, “Woe to those who manipulate religion and the very name of God for their own military, economic, and political gain, dragging that which is sacred into darkness and filth."

The post on X from his official Pontifex account drew nearly 10 million views in English alone by Friday evening.

Capizzi urged against reading every papal statement as aimed at Washington, however. “You're in Cameroon, on a continent marked by severe religious conflict; that comment has a much broader application.”

Still, according to Capizzi, the Holy Father’s words are meant for all of the faithful.

"Any believer who appeals to God — as though God is on their side — ought to do so with great fear and trembling,” he said. “That is a consistent lesson of our faith: that a believer is the person who has a healthy fear of God and of God's judgment of his or her actions. And that includes the way he or she speaks about God."

Pope Leo XIV with the Archbishop Andrew Nkea Fuanya frees a white dove at Saint Joseph's Cathedral in Bamenda, Cameroon, 16 April 2026 AP Photo

The same day at the Pentagon, US Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth led a worship service and read what he described as a prayer recited by Combat Search and Rescue crews during the Iran operation.

He introduced it as "CSAR 25:17," meant to reflect Ezekiel 25:17. What followed was nearly verbatim the monologue delivered by Samuel L Jackson's hitman in Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction, in the scene immediately before his character Jules Winnfield commits a murder.

The actual Ezekiel 25:17 is considerably shorter and less specific. Tarantino's version was itself adapted from a 1973 Japanese martial arts film.

‘Nothing against the pope’

Trump won around 55% of US Catholic votes in 2024. A poll conducted in late March, jointly by Republican pollster Shaw & Co Research and Democratic pollster Beacon Research, found his approval among Catholics had fallen to 48%, with 52% disapproving.

A Fox News poll found US Catholics opposed to military action in Iran by 10 points and against Trump's conduct toward Iran by 20. A separate NBC survey found US registered voters now view the pope more favourably than the president by a net margin of 46 points.

US President Donald Trump arrives on Air Force One at Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas, 16 April 2026 AP Photo

On Thursday, Trump told reporters he has "nothing against the pope" and is "all about the Gospel," while continuing to state Pope Leo XIV was in favour of Tehran having nuclear weapons.

Trump also said his preference remained with the pope's brother Louis, who lives in Florida. "Louis is all MAGA. He gets it, and Leo (XIV) doesn’t,” Trump said.

"If I wasn't in the White House, Leo wouldn't be in the Vatican,” he reiterated.

The night before, police had surrounded the New Lenox home of a different brother of the pope, John Prevost, following a bomb threat. K9 explosive-detection units found nothing. The investigation remains ongoing.

The greater picture

For Faggioli, the dispute is a symptom of something that has been building for years: not a domestic row about one war, but a contest over what Christianity means and who speaks for it.

"America always had a religious understanding of itself as a nation, but presidents were very cautious about not looking like messianic figures — at least in life,” Faggioli said.

“Trump has exploited the creation of a vacuum of secularisation in America, and he has filled that vacuum with a certain degree of messianism — and some American Christians are happy about that."

"Trumpism is a form of political messianism. He sees himself — and many people see in him — someone with a divine mission: a political Messiah who will deliver salvation to America, to Americans, to Christianity. And he is serious when he posts those things."

 US President Donald Trump and other dignitaries attend the funeral of Pope Francis in St Peter's Square at the Vatican, 26 April 2025 AP Photo

Capizzi, for his part, was more of the belief that the US president would eventually mend bridges with the Holy See. "I actually consider this a hopeful sign — that it's touching and impacting President Trump, despite what he's saying and what he's posted."

"This conversation has shown that the Church retains her moral authority,” he said.

“This is a teaching moment. Catholics and others are getting to see that these doctrines are over a thousand years old, that we have thought about these questions for a very long time, and there is a moral gravity behind these claims."

As for the pope, John Prevost said something crucial about his brother before any of this began. "I don't think he'll stay quiet for too long if he has something to say," he told the New York Times last year. "He won't just sit back."