• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
Catholic Review

Catholic Review

Inspiring the Archdiocese of Baltimore

Menu
  • Home
  • News
        • Local News
        • World News
        • Vatican News
        • Obituaries
        • Featured Video
        • En Español
        • Sports News
        • Official Clergy Assignments
        • Schools News
  • Commentary
        • Contributors
          • Question Corner
          • George Weigel
          • Elizabeth Scalia
          • Michael R. Heinlein
          • Effie Caldarola
          • Guest Commentary
        • CR Columnists
          • Archbishop William E. Lori
          • Rita Buettner
          • Christopher Gunty
          • George Matysek Jr.
          • Mark Viviano
          • Father Joseph Breighner
          • Father Collin Poston
          • Robyn Barberry
          • Hanael Bianchi
          • Amen Columns
  • Entertainment
        • Events
        • Movie & Television Reviews
        • Arts & Culture
        • Books
        • Recipes
  • About Us
        • Contact Us
        • Our History
        • Meet Our Staff
        • Photos to own
        • Books/CDs/Prayer Cards
        • CR Media platforms
        • Electronic Edition
  • Advertising
  • Shop
        • Purchase Photos
        • Books/CDs/Prayer Cards
        • Magazine Subscriptions
        • Archdiocesan Directory
  • CR Radio
        • CR Radio
        • Protagonistas de Fe
  • News Tips
  • Subscribe
Pope Francis answers a question from a journalist aboard his flight back to Rome Sept. 29, 2024, after visiting Luxembourg and Belgium during his 46th international trip. (CNS photo/Lola Gomez)

Excessive force, even after an attack, is immoral, pope says

September 30, 2024
By Carol Glatz
Catholic News Service
Filed Under: Conflict in the Middle East, Feature, News, Vatican, World News

Share
Share on Facebook
Share
Share this
Pin
Pin this
Share
Share on LinkedIn

ABOARD THE PAPAL FLIGHT FROM BELGIUM (CNS) — Using disproportionate force after being attacked is immoral, Pope Francis said.

There are rules, even in war, that should be followed, he said. And when those rules are not adhered to you can see, “as we say in Argentina, the ‘bad blood'” or bad intentions behind the actions.

During a brief question-and-answer period with reporters on the papal plane returning to Rome from Belgium Sept. 29, the pope was asked specifically whether he thought Israel had gone too far in its most recent strike on Lebanon.

The U.S. reporter had prefaced the question by saying Israel, in its targeted strike assassinating Hezbollah leader, Hassan Nasrallah, had dropped tons of explosives on Lebanon, resulting in many casualties and displacing hundreds of people, which prompted the pope to put his hand to his face in a show of despair.

“Has Israel perhaps gone too far in Lebanon and Gaza?” the reporter asked.

The pope replied that he speaks every day by phone with the people who have been sheltering in Gaza’s Catholic church, “and they tell me about the things that are happening, even the cruelty that happens there.”

He said he was not sure about what really happened in Lebanon, but he said a nation’s “defense must always be proportionate to the attack.”

“When there is something disproportionate, one shows a tendency to dominate which goes beyond what is moral,” he said.

Defensive actions that are so “excessive,” he said, “are immoral actions.”

After Mass at the stadium, the pope had appealed to all parties involved in conflicts in the Middle East “to cease fire immediately in Lebanon, in Gaza, in the rest of Palestine, and in Israel.”

“Hostages must be released, and humanitarian aid must be allowed,” he said, adding he feels sorrow and great concern hearing about “the escalation and intensification of the conflict in Lebanon.”

Another reporter asked about his recent praise of the late King Baudouin of Belgium, whom the pope had said, when he prayed at his tomb Sept. 27, was courageous to abdicate his throne for a day so he did not have to give his assent to a bill Parliament passed in 1990 legalizing abortion.

The pope had also said after Mass Sept. 29 that he wanted Belgium’s bishops to commit to advancing the sainthood cause of the leader who died in 1993. He is an example of a man of faith who should “illuminate leaders,” the pope said after the Mass.

On the plane, the pope said, “it takes a politician who ‘wears pants’ to do this, it takes courage.”

Replying to a reporter’s question about how to balance the rights of women and the right to life, the pope said, “Women have the right to life: to her life and her children’s lives.”

“Abortion is homicide,” he said, and doctors who perform abortions “are hitmen. And there can be no debate about this.”

“Contraceptive methods are something else. Don’t mix them up. I am talking about abortion,” he said.

Asked about what he will do with the requests for action he received from victims of clergy abuse he met with in Brussels Sept. 27, the pope said the church has “a responsibility to help those abused and to take care of them” and to punish the perpetrators.

Perpetrators cannot be left “free to live a normal life with responsibilities in the parish or schools,” he said. They suffer from a psychiatric illness, not “a sin” that one can choose not to commit.

Read More Vatican News

Pope welcomes young people to Rome for jubilee, thanks media for promoting truth

Parishes need to launch ‘revolution of care’ for the elderly, pope says

Body of Blessed Frassati, relic of Blessed Acutis will be in Rome for Jubilee

Pope celebrates Apollo 11 anniversary with peek at the heavens, call to astronaut

Pope, Palestinian president discuss humanitarian tragedy in Gaza during phone call

Pope condemns Israel’s attack against church, calls for end to ‘barbarity’

Copyright © 2024 Catholic News Service/U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops

Print Print

Share
Share on Facebook
Share
Share this
Pin
Pin this
Share
Share on LinkedIn

Primary Sidebar

Carol Glatz

Click here to view all posts from this author

For the latest news delivered twice a week via email or text message, sign up to receive our free enewsletter.

| MOST POPULAR |

  • Prince of Peace merges with St. Francis de Sales in Harford County

  • Detroit archbishop fires theologians Ralph Martin, Eduardo Echeverría from seminary

  • Archdiocese of Baltimore offers resources for parishes to assist migrants

  • Construction underway on new north addition to St. Joseph’s Nursing Home 

  • A butterfly lands on a flowering bush with purple blossoms A Miracle for a Baby in Rhode Island (and for all of us)

| Latest Local News |

Radio Interview: The true story of ‘Xavier Rynne’

Archdiocese of Baltimore offers resources for parishes to assist migrants

Third annual gun buyback scheduled for Aug. 9

Driver arrested after crashing into entrance of Esperanza Center

Construction underway on new north addition to St. Joseph’s Nursing Home 

| Latest World News |

Massacre ‘of faithful in the house of God’ in Congolese Catholic church leaves 43 dead

Pope welcomes young people to Rome for jubilee, thanks media for promoting truth

Cardinal Tomasi: Religious communities can play key roles in nuclear disarmament

Warsaw archbishop ‘devastated, crushed’ by priest’s arrest in brutal murder of homeless man

Jubilee of Youth chance to celebrate hope, fraternity in world at war, panel says

| Catholic Review Radio |

CatholicReview · Catholic Review Radio

Footer

Our Vision

Real Life. Real Faith. 

Catholic Review Media communicates the Gospel and its impact on people’s lives in the Archdiocese of Baltimore and beyond.

Our Mission

Catholic Review Media provides intergenerational communications that inform, teach, inspire and engage Catholics and all of good will in the mission of Christ through diverse forms of media.

Contact

Catholic Review
320 Cathedral Street
Baltimore, MD 21201
443-524-3150
mail@CatholicReview.org

 

Social Media

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Recent

  • Radio Interview: The true story of ‘Xavier Rynne’
  • Massacre ‘of faithful in the house of God’ in Congolese Catholic church leaves 43 dead
  • Pope welcomes young people to Rome for jubilee, thanks media for promoting truth
  • Cardinal Tomasi: Religious communities can play key roles in nuclear disarmament
  • Warsaw archbishop ‘devastated, crushed’ by priest’s arrest in brutal murder of homeless man
  • Jubilee of Youth chance to celebrate hope, fraternity in world at war, panel says
  • New York archdiocese sees hundreds of responses to ‘Called By Name’ program
  • Can’t afford a Catholic college? Think again. Many offer full tuition options
  • Detroit archbishop fires theologians Ralph Martin, Eduardo Echeverría from seminary

Search

Membership

Catholic Media Assocation

Maryland-Delaware-DC Press Association

The Associated Church Press

© 2025 CATHOLIC REVIEW MEDIA, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

en Englishes Spanish
en en