Katolik Kilisesi papası (2025–günümüz)
Pope Leo's visits to Lampedusa on July 4 'symbolic'
Pope Leo XIV, who has sparred with the Trump administration over its immigration crackdown, spent the Fourth of July on Saturday in the epicenter of Europe’s migration debate to honor the tens of thousands of people who have died trying to reach Europe to find freedom and prosperity. While the United States marks the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence with rallies, parties and fireworks, history’s first US-born pope traveled to the Sicilian island of Lampedusa to pray at a migrant cemetery and celebrate a solemn Mass for the island's newest arrivals. FRANCE 24's Seema Gupta reports.
Pope tells US immigrants have shaped nation's future
(ANSA) - ROME, JUL 3 - Pope Leo XIV told the US that immigrants have shaped the nation's future as he received the Medal of Freedom in an online ceremony with Philadelphia Friday. "Over the past two hundred and fifty years, for many peoples around the world, there has been an unwavering determination to realize the noble vision of the Founding Fathers, making America synonymous with freedom, as the country opened its doors to successive waves of immigrants, allowing them and their children to help shape the nation's future," said Leo. "It was this same love of freedom that inspired the United States in the darkest hours of the last century." Receiving the Medal of Freedom from Philadelphia and, recalling the Declaration of Independence of July 4, 1776, connected online with the National Constitution Center, Leo added: "As a son of this great nation, founded by brave men and women who dreamed of freedom and a better life for themselves and their children, I join you in asking God's blessing on America's future, that the high ideals enshrined at the outset of the Declaration of Independence may continue to guide the nation's prosperity in unity, justice, and peace." (ANSA). Read article...
Pope to send message against remigration with Lampedusa visit says bishop
(ANSA) - ROME, JUL 3 - Pope Leo XIV will send a message against remigration with his visit to the migrant stepping stone island of Lampedusa on Saturday, a local bishop said Friday. Leo's visit to a site closer to Africa than Italy, 13 years after his predecessor Francis condemned the "globalisation of indifference" on an historic trip to Lampedusa, is "a clear message," a "caress to those men and women who found the end of their journey in Lampedusa," a "message" also against "remigration," in a "journey" that "the Pope is undertaking and has continued, especially in these last stages, the Canary Islands and the visit to the memory of Mother Cabrini in Pavi", said Monsignor Alessandro Damiano, Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Agrigento. Another message from the Pope will be that "life at sea must always be saved." (ANSA). Read article...
Lampedusa Ziyaretiyle Papa'dan Geri Göç Karşıtı Mesaj- Güvenlik02 Tem
Schismatic Catholic society sees six bishops excommunicated by Pope
The Vatican has excommunicated six bishops from the ultraconservative Society of St Pius X, while warning that any lay believers who "formally adhere" to the breakaway Catholic group would suffer the same fate. It comes a day after the traditionalist group consecrated four new bishops, openly defying a plea from Pope Leo XIV to desist and exacerbating a rift dating from 1988.
Vatican excommunicates ultraconservative breakaway bishops in first crisis for Pope
The Vatican excommunicated six bishops from the ultraconservative Society of St Pius X , while warning that any lay believers who "formally adhere" to the breakaway Catholic group would suffer the same fate. The Vatican decree comes a day after the traditionalist group consecrated four new bishops, openly defying a plea from Pope Leo XIV to desist and exacerbating a rift dating from 1988 when the group earlier consecrated four bishops. FRANCE 24's Seema Gupta tells us more about this story.
Vatican says Lefebvrists excommunicated after new bishops ordained
(ANSA) - ROME, JUL 2 - The Vatican said Thursday that the ultraconservative Lefebvrist group has been excommunicated after it ordained four new bishops without a pontifical mandate on Wednesday. Pope Leo XIV had made a last-ditch appeal pleading with the group not to go ahead with the ordinations, saying this would lead to schism. The Vatican said the excommunication decree was signed by Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, Prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith. It was released 24 hours after the ceremony ordaining the bishops in Écône, Switzerland. It said the fraternity's bishops who performed the ordinations, Alfonso de Galarreta and Bernard Fellay, and the newly consecrated bishops, Pascal Schreiber, Michael Goldade, Michel Poinsinet de Sivry, and Marc Hanappier, had carried out "an act of a schismatic nature". "The excommunication newly separates the bishops and priests of the Fraternity of Saint Pius X from the Church of Rome," the Vatican said. "As for the lay faithful, those who formally adhere to the Fraternity are to be considered excommunicated". The Switzerland-based fraternity, whose official name is the Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX) and has hundreds of thousands of followers, was founded in 1970 by late French Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre in opposition to the changes adopted with the Second Vatican Council of some 60 years ago. This is its second break from the Catholic Church. The first was cemented with the excommunication of four bishops Lefebvre consecrated without the Apostolic Mandate in 1988. Pope Benedict XVI lifted the excommunication in 2009 and Pope Francis subsequently said SSPX priests can celebrate marriages in traditionalist churches under some circumstances, a move that was followed by attempts to bring the group fully back into the fold. (ANSA). Read article...
Controversial bishops ordained as Pope warns of ‘schism’ in Catholic Church
Thousands of people have gathered in a tiny village in Switzerland to witness the ordination of four new Catholic bishops, in defiance of an appeal by Pope Leo XIV.
Schism in Catholic Church as Lefebvrians ordain bishops +rpt+
(ANSA) - ROME, JUL 1 - (fixes spelling of group's name) The Catholic Church was plunged into schism Wednesday after the ultraconservative Lefebvrian group ordained new bishops defying an order from Pope Leo XIV who had said the move would spell their automatic excommunication and a split in the Church. Leo on Wednesday made a last-ditch appeal to the ultra-traditionalist group for it to drop its plan to ordain four new bishops without a pontifical mandate. The Vatican has said this would amount to a schismatic act and entail excommunication. The Switzerland-based fraternity, whose official name is the Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX) and has hundreds of thousands of followers, was founded in 1970 by late French Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre in opposition to the changes adopted with the Second Vatican Council of some 60 years ago. The break from the Catholic Church was cemented with the excommunication of four bishops Lefebvre consecrated without the Apostolic Mandate in 1988. Pope Benedict XVI lifted the excommunication in 2009 and Pope Francis subsequently said SSPX priests can celebrate marriages in traditionalist churches under some circumstances, a move that was followed by attempts to bring the group fully back into the fold. On Wednesday the Lefebvrians held firm and in Econe, Switzerland, four new bishops were consecrated, despite the Pope's call for a halt. Formal communication of excommunication and schism from the Vatican could arrive later Wednesday or within a few days. The first act of the actual consecration was the laying on of hands on the heads of the new bishops by the celebrant, Msgr. Alfonso de Galarreta, and Msgr. Bernard Fellay, co-consecrator. Other liturgical gestures followed. (ANSA). Read article...
Breakaway Catholic sect defies Vatican again by ordaining bishops
ECONE, Switzerland — Decades after triggering a rift with the Vatican by consecrating bishops in 1988, the Society of Saint Pius X is doing it again on Wednesday in defiance of Pope Leo XIV. The ultra-traditionalist breakaway group with about 600,000 followers worldwide intends to appoint four bishops: two French, one American and one Swiss.
Pope makes last-ditch appeal to Lefebvrists to stop bishop ordinations
(ANSA) - ROME, JUN 30 - Pope Leo XIV has made a last-ditch appeal to the ultra-traditionalist Lefebvrist group for it to drop its plan to ordain four new bishops without a pontifical mandate on Wednesday. The Vatican has said this would amount to a schismatic act and entail excommunication. "The Church recognizes the devotion to liturgical life, commitment to priestly formation, apostolic zeal and desire for fidelity to tradition that characterize many people and communities connected to your fraternity," the American pontiff wrote in a letter dated June 29. "This has motivated the attentive and generous attitude that my predecessors have consistently shown to you. "In this spirit, and filled with Christian affection, I plead with you and ask you with all my heart: please turn back!. "I urge you to consider carefully the spiritual good of the faithful, because the schismatic act you are about to undertake would deprive them of the licit and, in some cases, even valid reception of the Sacraments, which they love and seek for their sanctification. "The Church is open to a path of dialogue and understanding that the Holy Spirit can make possible and fruitful. "I pray for you, because to tear the seamless garment of Christ is a sin of extreme gravity. "May the Lord enlighten your consciences and awaken your hearts. "With a sorrowful yet hopeful heart, I feel it is my duty, through the authority received from Christ, to ask you to desist from your intended act". The Switzerland-based fraternity, whose official name is the Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX) and has hundreds of thousands of followers, was founded in 1970 by late French Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre in opposition to the changes adopted with the Second Vatican Council of some 60 years ago. The break from the Catholic Church was cemented with the excommunication of four bishops Lefebvre consecrated without the Apostolic Mandate in 1988. Pope Benedict XVI lifted the excommunication in 2009 and Pope Francis subsequently said SSPX priests can celebrate marriages in traditionalist churches under some circumstances, a move that was followed by attempts to bring the group fully back into the fold. (ANSA). Read article...
Venezuelans search for survivors as death toll from twin earthquakes rises to 235
Desperate Venezuelans raced on Thursday to find and rescue loved ones trapped alive beneath the rubble of collapsed buildings after two major earthquakes that killed at least 235 people. Buildings cracked, crumbled, and tilted precariously after the quakes, which the United States Geological Survey measured at magnitudes 7.2 and 7.5, hit northern Venezuela within less than a minute of each other on Wednesday night. Powerful aftershocks could still be felt on Thursday, and Health Minister Carlos Alvarado reported the death toll had risen to at least 235, with around 4,300 people injured. Rescue efforts moved slowly, with bodies still visible under debris hours after the quakes, while time ran out for some of those who were trapped and injured. In a city in the worst-hit state of La Guaira, north of Caracas, residents listened helplessly as a young girl cried out for help for hours. “We need people …, military personnel, to come and help so we can get her out,” said resident Dani Rizo, 48. Not long after, the girl died, local residents told AFP. Elsewhere in La Guaira, three people could be heard in the rubble of a collapsed building. “They’re still alive … There’s nothing more we can do,” said one resident, Antonio Bermudez. “We don’t have any tools. We have no way to help.” A doctor at the Domingo Luciani Hospital in the city, speaking on condition of anonymity, said children were arriving in ambulances alone after being pulled out of the rubble. “Some children provide their names, while others arrive with identification tape on their arms,” he said. Global rescue teams on way A rescue worker, speaking off the record, told AFP conditions were precarious, with a shortage of trained personnel and significant technical limitations. Interim president Delcy Rodriguez visited La Guaira on Thursday after the area was declared a “disaster zone.” AFP reporters witnessed residents looting a local supermarket in the city. Venezuela’s director of the International Rescue Committee, Nicole Kast, described the situation as catastrophic. Offers of support poured in from around the world, with Switzerland, Spain, France, Portugal and Mexico among those sending specialists and rescue teams to Venezuela. The United States said it was deploying two warships, transport planes and helicopters as well as mobilising $150 million in aid. “We have a whole-of-government response. It’ll be big, it’ll be fast, and it’ll be effective,” said US Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Washington is closely involved in oil-rich Venezuela after US forces ousted and arrested president Nicolas Maduro in January. China, India, Brazil and even war-battered Iran offered help, while Pope Leo XIV has sent an initial 100,000 euros in aid to the country. UN chief Antonio Guterres said he was “deeply saddened” by the disaster as the global body vowed to assist Venezuela. The strongest quake to hit Venezuela in 126 years will require “massive collective efforts,” UN aid chief Tom Fletcher said in a statement. Threatening to complicate relief efforts, the international airport is in La Guaira and has been closed after suffering serious damage. Two Brazilians, two Chinese, an Italian and a Portuguese citizen were among the dead, authorities in those countries said. Tremors felt in Colombia, Brazil Venezuela’s northern coast sits on a boundary between the Caribbean and South American tectonic plates, but has not experienced a significant quake since 1997, when 73 people died. Another quake in 1967 killed 236 people. Wednesday’s 7.5-magnitude earthquake was the most powerful since October 29, 1900, when a 7.7-magnitude tremor struck offshore. The quake was felt in neighbouring Colombia, where residents in Bogota evacuated buildings as a precaution. Tremors were also reported in several cities in northern Brazil, according to the country’s seismic monitoring network. Scenes of panic and destruction also played out in the Venezuelan capital Caracas, where many spent the night sleeping on the streets or in their cars. Rita Gomez, 60, travelled to the capital after seeing on social media that the building her daughter lives in had collapsed and that she was not answering her phone. She told AFP that heavy machinery had arrived and there was “a lot of cooperation from the neighbors. We are trusting in God that they will find her alive. “
Venezuela Depremlerinde Can Kaybı 235 ile 1.400 Arasında BildiriliyorWe can resolve conflicts as humans, not as beasts says pope
(ANSA) - ROME, JUN 26 - We can resolve conflicts as humans, not as beasts, Pope Leo XIV said Friday. "War is never worthy of man, and is never blessed by God, because the Creator has endowed us with the intelligence and will to resolve conflicts as human beings, not as beasts, perhaps armed with hyper-technological weapons," the pope said in his homily during a Mass in St. Peter's, which effectively opened the Extraordinary Consistory. "The unity of the human family precedes individual peoples and states. It is not just a biological fact: it is an ethical principle," added Leo. The first working session with the cardinals is dedicated precisely to the international situation. (ANSA). Read article...
Pope sends initial aid of 100,000 euros to Venezuela
(ANSA) - ROME, JUN 25 - Pope Leo XIV on Thursday sent initial aid of 100,000 euros to Venezuela after two killer quakes hit the South American country leaving thousands missing. Leo, through the Office of Papal Charities, has sent initial aid to Venezuela, which was struck by two severe earthquakes overnight. The Pope's allocation is 100,000 euros, decided after contacts with the Nuncio to the country, Archbishop Alberto Ortega Martín, Titular Archbishop of Midila, and the Archbishop of Caracas, Archbishop Raúl Biord Castillo. "But constant attention will be paid to the needs of the Venezuelan people, which, in the coming days, at the direction of the local Church, efforts will be made to meet," Vatican media wrote. (ANSA). Read article...
Pope made us feel that writers are useful says Igiaba Scego
(ANSA) - ROME, JUN 24 - Pope Leo XIV made an international delegation of authors feel that writers are useful during an audience Wednesday marking the 100th anniversary of the founding of Vatican publisher Libreria Editrice Vataicnaa (LEV), Italo-Somali novelist Igiaba Scego told ANSA after their encounter with the American pontiff. "Pope Leo made us feel that writers are very useful. Fiction is often marginalized, and yet, precisely because we live in a world of artificial intelligence and unbridled capitalism, understanding that storytelling is the center of life was important. The Pope's words were truly beautiful and encouraging," said Scego, who was born in Rome to a Somali family in 1974. She was received by the Holy Father, along with a delegation of writers from around the world, including Elizabeth Strout, Susanna Tamaro, Marilynne Robinson, Jonathan Safran Foer, Enrico Brizzi, Sorj Chalandon, Maria Grazia Calandrone, Colum McCann, Daniele Mencarelli, Mircea Cărtărescu, and Eraldo Affinati, for the 100th anniversary of LEV's founding. It was not Igiaba Scego's first visit to the Vatican. "The first time I met with Pope Francis, today with Pope Leo. These are enriching experiences. I believe deeply in interreligious dialogue. I'm a Muslim woman, but I'm Roman, so in a certain sense, part of the Church's culture has always been with me. Rome is a city where Catholic ritual is very present. I must say I identify with the faith of others because each of us is different, but each of us is equal," she explains. Did you find continuity between Pope Francis and Pope Leo XIV? "On some topics, yes, certainly on the theme of peace. I think each pontificate has its own character and experiences different situations. Today, we have a geopolitical landscape gone mad, with more and more hate speech. I think every pontiff, but this also applies to heads of state, must face new challenges, and the technological one is right before us. "Pope Leo is one of the few leaders who speaks about this, not so much to demonize science, but to humanize it." What moved you about this meeting with the Pope? "I had heard Pope Leo speak in Spanish, in Italian, but never in English, his native language, and it was very interesting. He touched on many topics; peace is always in his speeches. What strikes me about this Pontiff is that he has a vision of the world of peace and understanding of our mutual humanity," says Scego, author of books that consistently address the themes of colonialism and racism, such as 'My Home Is Where I Am' (Rizzoli), 'Cassandra in Mogadishu' (Bompiani), nominated for the 2023 Strega Prize, and her latest release, 'Figli della foresta' (Becco Giallo), her first graphic novel, with Chiara Abastanotti. "Writing," the Holy Father recalled, "is the foundation of the humanity within us. Starting from the human being, at a time when we are experiencing terrible wars and passively accepting AI, without truly managing it, is crucial. If we don't do something, everything will be very dehumanizing. The Pope's speech brings us back to humanity, to our flesh." In the sacristy of St. Peter's Basilica, Scego speaks of the need to "rebuild relationships among us, in our own small way. "We must start with our neighbors, our neighbors; we must get to know each other. Beginning with close relationships is a path to peace. What we need is a little more compassion and the ability to put ourselves in the other's shoes. "Unfortunately, this is not the view of some elites who rule the world, and we are seeing a massive use of weapons, drones, and hate speech that worries me greatly. "Hateful words are turning into extreme violence. This is why the Pope's speech, as he is one of the few world leaders to speak of peace—indeed, almost the only one—is crucial. "His voice is heard; it is a compass. I think all men of religion—Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Hinduism—should speak of peace because they are the only ones left to do so in a world that is rearming. "Climate change is the real war we should be fighting, and we are not." Another key issue is that of migration flows, she says. "Remigration is a toxic word. Perhaps our issue is travel rather than migration. We have a regime of strong and weak passports. European laws have actually become more stringent, and the right to asylum is absolutely in danger. "We are creating something truly problematic and in violation of human rights at a time when Africa and Asia are becoming the continents of the future. Europe is increasingly closed off, but it offers no solutions." Strout, the Pulitzer Prize winning author of 'Olive Kitteridge', told ANSA that she write to break isolation, as Leo said. "I think he is a wonderful man and a wonderful Pope. It was a pleasure to meet him today. He spoke about how important it is for readers to be able to read the works of writers because in this way they can identify with so many different lives, they can understand what it means to be so many different people, and I completely agree. It's one of the reasons I write, to help break this isolation that naturally exists between all of us. "The Pope didn't talk about world peace, but I know he's doing his best to help achieve world peace, and that's wonderful," said the beloved author of other books such as 'Adrift,' 'The Burgess Boys,' and 'Lucy by the Sea,. "I have a book coming out in Italy in October: 'The Things We Never Say.' It's already been published in America, England, and Ireland (where it topped the bestseller lists). It's about a high school history teacher. He's a lovely man. It talks about his role in contemporary history and how the actions of the United States government end up affecting him and his son. But it's also about me," the writer says. (ANSA). Read article...
Papa Leo XIV, yazarlara kurgunun değerini hissettirdiConflicts are fed more than people are, Pope says during visit to WFP HQ
(ANSA) - ROME, JUN 22 - Pope Leo XIV complained that "conflicts are fed more easily than people are" during a visit to the Rome headquarters of the UN World Food Programme on Monday. "This situation is a reflection not only of operational shortcomings, but also of a fundamental imbalance in political and moral priorities," the American pontiff added. "More than a simple humanitarian concern, hunger erodes social cohesion, increases the risk of conflict, and fuels forced migration. "Furthermore, it undermines the ability of states and societies to build resilient institutions, provide effective education, and promote sustainable economic development". The pope made an appeal to the world's governments to "increase the resources dedicated to the fight against hunger and its root causes and remove the obstacles that prevent aid from reaching those in need". (ANSA). Read article...
Pope Leo praises first American saint as model for serving migrants
SANT’ANGELO LODIGIANO, Italy — Pope Leo XIV on Saturday exalted the first American saint, Mother Frances Cabrini, as a model for Christians today to care for migrants in need, as he visited her birthplace during a day trip to northern Italy. Leo, who has clashed with the Trump administration over its migrant crackdown, urged young people in particular to
Meloni hits back as Trump escalates G7 photo spat
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni fired back at US President Donald Trump on Saturday, saying his “constant, unprovoked attacks are senseless” after he escalated a diplomatic row by accusing her of repeatedly seeking a photograph with him. The clash has opened an unusually personal rift between Trump and one of Europe’s most prominent right-wing leaders, who had sought to cast herself as a bridge between Washington and the continent during Trump’s return to power. Trump had initially told Italian broadcaster La7 that Meloni “begged” him for a picture at this week’s G7 summit in France, saying he agreed only because he “felt sorry for her.” Meloni angrily denied the claim, calling it “made up,” but Trump doubled down in a post on Truth Social, saying Meloni had asked “over and over” for a photograph during the summit. He also accused her of trying to repair relations with Washington for domestic political reasons after Italy failed to support US action against Iran. “Now, after the United States defeated Iran militarily, she wants to be friends again in order to get her ‘numbers up.’ No thanks!!!” Trump wrote. He said Meloni was doing “poorly in Italy” and suggested this was linked to her refusal to let the United States use Italian “landing strips or runways” during the conflict with Iran. Trump also revived his long-running complaint that the United States spends heavily to protect “so-called” Nato allies, saying Washington contributes hundreds of billions of dollars to defend Italy and others. Meloni, in a blistering response on Instagram, accused Trump of “constant, unprovoked … senseless” attacks and said her popularity did not depend on her relationship with the US president. “Being your friend certainly has not helped it, nor does it depend on my relationship with you,” she wrote. View this post on Instagram She rejected Trump’s criticism over the use of US military facilities in Italy, saying they were governed by agreements that Rome had respected. “In any case, my popularity is none of your concern. I suggest you focus on yours,” she added. ‘Painful injury’ The remarks were a sharp escalation of a dispute that had already triggered anger in Rome and came at a moment when Trump had already unsettled European partners with his handling of the war in Ukraine. Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani cancelled a planned visit to the United States, saying on Friday that Trump’s “grave and offensive” words toward Meloni “offend the whole of Italy.” Meloni, who leads Italy’s far-right Brothers of Italy party, had said earlier she was “frankly stunned” by Trump’s original comments and accused him of showing more deference to the West’s adversaries than to its partners. The backlash was notable because Meloni, unlike many European leaders, had invested heavily in personal diplomacy with Trump and had been viewed in Rome and Washington as one of his most natural partners on the continent. She had spent months cultivating close ties with the US president while trying to reassure European allies wary of his second term. Meloni had said at the end of the G7 summit in Evian that the atmosphere had been “very positive” and that there was “no friction” between Trump and other leaders. She acknowledged, however, that she and Trump both had “quite strong characters,” and the pair were seen together several times at the summit, including during a meeting on a sofa after which Trump appeared to pat her shoulder. In her latest comments, Meloni sought to draw a line under the spat, saying Saturday’s response would be her last remarks on the subject. Relations between the two had already deteriorated during the Middle East war. Trump turned on Meloni in April after she defended Pope Leo XIV from his criticism of the pontiff’s anti-war views, accusing the Italian leader of failing to help the United States through Nato. Justice Minister Carlo Nordio said Trump’s latest comments were a “painful injury” to Italy-US ties, while Defence Minister Guido Crosetto said such “jokes do not benefit anyone”.
Trump'ın 'Fotoğraf İçin Yalvardı' İddiası İtalya ile ABD Arasında Gerilim YarattıOutrage in Italy after Trump says Meloni 'begged' for photo op
Italy reacted angrily on Friday after reported comments by US President Donald Trump mocking Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, with the foreign minister cancelling a planned US visit. Meloni said she was “frankly stunned” by Trump’s comments to Italian channel La7. According to a written transcript of the phone interview provided to AFP by the network, he said Meloni “begged me for a picture” at the G7 summit this week and he agreed only because he “felt sorry for her”. He also suggested that Meloni was probably “happy that I talked to her, I didn’t have to talk to her”. Meloni called what Trump said “made up”, adding: “Neither I nor Italy ever beg.” “I don’t know why the president of the United States behaves this way with his own allies,” the far-right leader wrote on X. “I can only say that it’s a pity he doesn’t show the same determination with enemies of the West, with enemies of the United States, with leaders with whom, instead, he is far more accommodating,” she said. Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani on X called Trump’s words “grave and offensive” and said he was cancelling a visit to the US planned for June 21 and 22. Justice Minister Carlo Nordio said the comments were a “painful injury” to Italy-US ties, while Defence Minister Guido Crosetto said “these jokes do not benefit anyone”. At the end of the G7 summit in Evian on Wednesday, Meloni had spoken of a “very positive climate” and “no friction” between Trump and other world leaders present. But she also said she and Trump both had “quite strong characters”. She was seen several times with the US president at the summit including a meeting on a sofa after which he appeared to pat her shoulder. Meloni has tried to position herself as a bridge between Europe and the Trump administration, but the relationship came under strain during the Middle East war. Trump turned on Meloni in April after she defended Pope Leo XIV from the US president’s harsh criticism of the pontiff’s anti-war views. Meloni condemned Trump’s remarks as “unacceptable” — prompting the president to turn his fire on her. “I’m shocked at her. I thought she had courage, but I was wrong,” the US president said in an interview with Italian daily Corriere della Sera at the time. He accused Meloni of failing to help the United States with NATO. Trump has threatened to pull US troops from Italy, saying Rome “has not been of any help to us” in the Iran war.
Meloni ve Trump, G7 Zirvesi'nde 'Netleştirme' Toplantısı YaptıMeloni says Trump fabricated story she 'begged' for photo
(ANSA) - ROME, JUN 19 - Premier Giorgia Meloni on Friday said US President Donald Trump's reported assertion that she begged him to have a photo with her during this week's G7 summit is false. "Donald Trump's declarations are completely fabricated," Meloni said in an Instagram post. "Frankly, I am stunned. "Italy and I never beg," she continued. "Some things deserve an immediate response. "I don't know why the US president behaves this way towards his allies. "It's not the first time it's happened, I can only say it's unfortunate he doesn't show the same determination towards the West's enemies". Trump said Meloni begged for a photo in an interview with La7 television's Aria che Tira programme. At the start of the interview, Trump immediately steered the conversation towards Meloni, asking "how is your prime minister?. "What did she say when she met me? She's probably happy I talked to her," he added. "I didn't have to talk to her. I don't know what to say. "She begged me to take a picture with her. "She wanted a picture with me so badly. I wouldn't have taken it, but I felt sorry for her". Deputy Premier and Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani announced that he has cancelled a visit to the United States planned for June 21-22, saying Trump had offended "all of Italy" with his "serious and offensive words". President Sergio Mattarella called Meloni to express his solidarity, sources said. Meloni had been big friends with Trump, and she was the only European leader invited to his inauguration last year, until the Iran war. The Italian government's stance included refusing the US permission to use an air base in Sicily for raids during the war. Trump accused Italy of not being helpful and said Meloni had changed. The premier also drew Trump's ire by defending Pope Leo XIV after the president said the pontiff was "weak on crime" and "terrible for foreign policy" following his criticism of the war. After the G7 summit Meloni said that her relations with Trump were unchanged, there were no "recriminations" and that the two leaders understood each other's points of view. Italy's opposition parties on Friday joined the government in condemning Trump over the comment, while also arguing this shows being too acquiescent with the US administration is counterproductive. "Solidarity with Giorgia Meloni for Trump's unspeakable words," Filippo Sensi, a Senator for the centre-left Democratic Party, said via X. "No one is allowed to adopt such an arrogant tone toward the person leading the Italian government. "I have nothing in common with Meloni, who boasted about being a bridge (between Trump's American and the EU), and the Right. "But no one can treat Italy this way". Former industry minister Carlo Calenda, the leader of the centrist Azione party, said he was convinced Trump had made up the story. "Trump is a serial liar and a ridiculous bully," Calenda said. "Personally, I don't believe Giorgia Meloni begged for anything at all. "In any case, these insults must be rejected as they undermine the nation's honour". Ex-premier and 5-Star Movement (M5S) leader Giuseppe Conte said Italy "doesn't deserve to find itself so blatantly humiliated. "I say this as an Italian citizen first and foremost, not as a politician," Conte continued in a social-media post. "So, it's completely unacceptable that one of our allies would dare speak in this way about our institutional leaders. "I only hope that a reflection will be opened to learn from what happened. "Signing up to everything we're asked to do, chasing photos and book prefaces, can never prevail over our national interest. "We must roll up our sleeves for our country, which must defend its dignity, its credibility, its greatness". Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez expressed full "solidarity" with Meloni at the European Council, saying the attack was "neither political nor personal. "In fact, I don't even know how to describe it," Sánchez told a news conference at the end of the EU summit. When asked about the furore by ANSA as he left the summit, French President Emmanuel Macron said he was "surprised" by Trump's attack. "I'll see her next week and I'll talk to her about it," Macron added, referring to the June 25 France-Italy bilateral summit in Antibes (ANSA). Read article...
I never beg, nor does Italy, Meloni says responding to Trump
(ANSA) - ROME, JUN 19 - Premier Giorgia Meloni on Friday said US President Donald Trump's assertion that she begged him to have a photo with her during this week's G7 summit is false. "Donald Trump's declarations are completely fabricated," Meloni said in an Instagram post. "Frankly, I am stunned. "Italy and I never beg," she continued. "Some things deserve an immediate response. "I don't know why the US president behaves this way towards his allies. "It's not the first time it's happened, I can only say it's unfortunate he doesn't show the same determination towards the West's enemies". Trump said Meloni begged for a photo in an interview with La7 television's Aria che Tira programme. At the start of the interview, Trump immediately steered the conversation towards Meloni, asking "how is your prime minister?. "What did she say when she met me? She's probably happy I talked to her," he added. "I didn't have to talk to her. I don't know what to say. "She begged me to take a picture with her. "She wanted a picture with me so badly. I wouldn't have taken it, but I felt sorry for her". Meloni had been big friends with Trump, and she was the only European leader invited to his inauguration last year, until the Iran war. The Italian government's stance included refusing the US permission to use an air base in Sicily for raids during the war. Trump accused Italy of not being helpful and said Meloni had changed. The premier also drew Trump's ire by defending Pope Leo XIV after the president said the pontiff was "weak on crime" and "terrible for foreign policy" following his criticism of the war. After the G7 summit Meloni said that her relations with Trump were unchanged, there were no "recriminations" and that the two leaders understood each other's points of view. During one meeting at the G7, Trump said he had been "abandoned" by Meloni in an exchange at which European Council President Antonio Costa and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz also took part in. When Costa asked if Meloni and Trump had made up, the Italian premier said "we've always been friends". Trump smiled back, saying "I was abandoned." "No, you were not," the prime minister immediately responded, laughing. (ANSA). Read article...
Meloni says relations with Trump unchanged, understand each other's points of view
(ANSA) - ROME, JUN 17 - Premier Giorgia Meloni said after the G7 summit Wednesday that her relations with United States President Donald Trump were unchanged and that the two leaders understood each other's points of view. "I would like to tell you that I found our relationship unchanged, there were no recriminations, nor did we discuss what happened: we have fairly strong characters, we are both leaders who "determinedly defend the national interest, there's no need for us to clarify when we disagree on something," Meloni told press conference at Evian-les-Bains. "And then, in the end, each of us understands the other's point of view, and so we discussed what can be done in the coming months, as we did the last time we met in a situation like this." Meloni and Trump made up at Evian after falling out over her criticism of his criticism of Pope Leo XIV's condemnation of the Iran war, and over Italy's not taking part in that conflict. (ANSA). Read article...
Meloni ve Trump, G7 Zirvesi'nde 'Netleştirme' Toplantısı YaptıPope welcomes Iran-USA agreement
(ANSA) - ROME, JUN 17 - Pope Leo XIV on Wednesday welcomed the agreement reached between Iran and the United States to end the war in the Middle East. Speaking at the end of his weekly general audience in Saint Peter's Square, the pontiff said the agreement was "an encouraging result of patient dialogue and negotiation. "I express gratitude to the countries that have worked to facilitate the meeting between the parties and make this agreement possible," he continued. "I hope that this agreement will contribute to strengthening mutual trust, security, and stability in the Middle East by promoting paths of dialogue and cooperation between peoples". He also spoke about the Ukraine war after the latest wave of deadly Russian bombings, in which Kyiv Pechersk Lavra monastery, a UNESCO world heritage site, caught fire this week. "So many innocent victims, rescuers have been killed, churches and cultural heritage sites devastated by bombs," he said. "I am close to those mourning their loved ones, to the wounded, and to those who, amidst the violence, continue to serve life with courage. "I invite everyone to pray for an end to this war. "Let us ask the Lord to open paths of dialogue, to extinguish hatred, and to make a just and lasting peace possible". (ANSA). Read article...
Ateşkes Kağıt Üzerinde: Lübnan ve Gazze'de Can Kaybı SürüyorRemigration is not a 'Christian response' says Pope Leo XIV
(ANSA) - ROME, JUN 17 - Pope Leo XIV has said that remigration, a policy being proposed by several far-right parties, including former General Roberto Vannacci's new National Future group in Italy, is not a concept that complies with Christian principles. "Many times we do not recognize the reasons why these people had to leave their countries," the American pontiff told reporters outside the papal residence in Castel Gandolf on Tuesday in relation to remigration. "So many reasons: violence, war, conflicts. And so simply saying, 'Let's send them away, so we can wash our hands of the problem' does not seem to me the most Christian response. "We must truly respect people—look at the cases, and above all treat people as people with respect". (ANSA). Read article...
NPT Review Conference Falls at Last Hurdle
NPT Review Conference Falls at Last Hurdle Tue, 06/16/2026 - 14:00 June 16, 2026 The April 28-May 22 nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT) Review Conference failed to adopt a final consensus document on May 22 after conference president Ambassador Do Hung Viet withheld the final document for debate due to unresolvable disagreements over how to address Iran’s nuclear program and the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran. This marks the third straight failure of the NPT review process. The conference, which takes place every five years, involved some 130 states-parties. The review conferences aim to review NPT commitments, reaffirm support for the treaty, and create a concrete action plan for the next five years. The conference took place during a time when each of the three pillars of the NPT – nonproliferation, disarmament, and the peaceful use of nuclear energy – are under severe strain. Viet said at a news conference May 22 that, “No one [state] blocked consensus because I realized there was not consensus, and so I did not put the document forward.” The exchanges at the conference also revealed the discord among the nuclear five on how and whether to reduce nuclear risks and nuclear arsenals. The U.S. delegation sought to focus attention on China’s nuclear buildup and said it had proposed “multilateral strategic stability talks” on “transparency, risk reduction, and nuclear testing.” China and Russia expressed regret that the United States had failed to take up opportunities to negotiate a follow-on to the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, which expired in February. They urged Washington to actively consider Moscow’s proposal to respect that treaty’s numerical limits for one more year and explore a follow-on agreement “in a responsible manner.” On April 29, China’s director-general for disarmament, Sun Xiaobo stated that “China has no interest in [strategic stability talks],” because China views the proposed talks as a way for the United States “to shift the responsibility for nuclear disarmament to other countries.” After the conference, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov also rejected the premise of the talks, stating, “the conditions for launching a substantive, equitable, and mutually acceptable strategic dialogue, which could include a discussion of arms control, are currently fundamentally lacking.” Later this month, Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of Arms Control and Nonproliferation Christopher Yeaw, who appeared at the review conference to briefly lead the U.S. NPT delegation, will testify June 30 before the House Foreign Affairs Committee Europe subcommittee to discuss U.S. plans for “Arms Control and Nonproliferation in an Era of Great Power Competition.” –LIBBY FLATOFF, XIAODON LIANG, and MIA CLARKE For more on the outcome of the NPT Review Conference, see this month’s ACT news report: “2026 NPT Review Conference Stymied by Disputes.” NPT President Viet: NPT Failure “Not Surprising” Addressing the Arms Control Association’s Annual Meeting on June 2, Vietnamese Ambassador Do Hung Viet, the president of the 2026 nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT) Review Conference, said the inability of states-parties to reach consensus was “disappointing, but it was not surprising.” Viet addressed the annual meeting by live video, days after completing duties as president of the review conference, to share his reflections on the third consecutive failure by states-parties to agree on a final document. Viet called for a broadening of the international understanding of “risk” as a necessary next step. He suggested that the “growing attractiveness” of nuclear weapons and nuclear deterrence have placed pressure on key norms, seriously affecting nuclear risk reduction efforts. Expressing cautious optimism, the ambassador shared his belief that “common ground has narrowed but has remained,” and that the NPT remains a foundation for peace and security even in the face of new challenges. He also stressed the importance of sustained dialogue among the nuclear weapons states to navigate new disagreements, conflicts, and challenges. Viet concluded by emphasizing that “a safer future will not emerge automatically,” and that today’s efforts to reduce nuclear risks and increase cooperation will profoundly shape the future security environment. A full video recording of the Arms Control Association Annual Meeting, including Ambassador Viet’s remarks, is available online. Trump Claims “Denuclearization” Proposal Presented to China U.S. President Donald Trump told reporters May 15 that he had discussed “denuclearization” with his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, during a May 14-15 state visit. Although Trump received “a very positive response,” the Chinese side made no commitments on the subject, according to the president. Trump noted that he would meet Xi three more times in 2026, suggesting the president hopes for a resumption of talks on the strategic nuclear relationship later this year. For more on the status of U.S.-China nuclear talks, see the June issue of Arms Control Today. SIPRI: Deployed Weapons and Stockpiles Grow The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) released June 8 its 2026 annual yearbook on disarmament, including a detailed assessment of the forces, doctrines, and modernization efforts of the nuclear-armed states. The assessment, which draws on the open-source research of the Federation of American Scientists, concludes that the “world’s nuclear arsenals expanded and upgraded” during 2025, according to a press release. Although the total inventory of nuclear forces around the world likely declined due to the dismantlement and retirement of older warheads, the size of active stockpiles and the number of deployed warheads increased in 2025. Additionally, all nuclear-armed states are believed to be conducting modernization or upgrade programs to various degrees. The most notable changes occurred in China and India. China has pursued advances in missile defense and launch-on-warning systems, and has begun deploying some missiles at heightened levels of readiness in silos. Additionally, China’s number of deployed missiles increased by between 24 and 34 between January 2025 and 2026. Coupled with new deployments of warheads on missiles with mobile battalions and near-constant SSBN deterrence patrols, these changes may signal China’s transition away from the strictest interpretation of a “no-first use” policy and toward an “early warning counter strike strategy” as it seeks to reinforce its second-strike capability. India appears to have changed its policy of storing warheads and missiles separately and has begun loading missiles in canisters and deploying warheads on an SSBN conducting deterrence patrols. SIPRI reported that in January 2025 India was believed to have no warheads regularly deployed on missiles, but by January 2026, it had twelve. In conjunction with the May 2025 conflict between India and Pakistan, which included conventional strikes on Pakistani sites housing components of Islamabad’s nuclear weapons program, this policy change may indicate increased escalation risks within the region. The yearbook also details a growing coordination and collaboration between the UK and France. Both countries are seeking to supplement and stabilize deterrence of the perceived risk of Russian aggression as the Trump administration’s anti-NATO rhetoric has intensified. Looking forward, the yearbook predicts that increases in stockpiles and deployed weapons, as well as decreases in transparency and data-sharing, will continue. France Talks Nuclear Planning with Allies With the addition of Norway and Finland, the number of NATO countries that are consulting with Paris on supporting French nuclear forces in contingencies has increased to ten. The dialogues follow the announcement in March by French President Emmanuel Macron of a new strategy of “forward” deterrence that could allow for the temporary deployment of nuclear strike aircraft outside of France. Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Greece, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Poland, and Sweden have also expressed an intention to discuss cooperation with France. Norway’s involvement in the scheme advanced May 27 with the signing of a mutual defense agreement with France and the announcement of further consultations on participation in a “process to determine how France’s nuclear weapons can contribute to security and deterrence in Europe,” according to a Norwegian government press release. Finland’s involvement remains at a preliminary stage, with Prime Minister Petteri Orpo informing Finnish news agency STT on June 4 that Macron’s government had transferred further details regarding the proposed arrangement, which is now under discussion in Helsinki. The shift in French policy responds to perceptions in Europe of a weakened U.S. commitment to the defense of the continent. The Financial Times reported June 2 that the United States has held talks through NATO channels with several states on potentially hosting U.S. nuclear weapons under an expansion of the existing NATO nuclear sharing arrangement. The newspaper reported that sources indicate the talks were intended to demonstrate a willingness to provide a greater nuclear commitment to Europe while Washington draws down conventional forces. U.S. to Return Intermediate-Range System to Japan Japan will host U.S. intermediate-range ground-launched missiles for military exercises in June, the Japanese newswire Kyodo News reported May 21. A ground-launched Tomahawk cruise missile unit will deploy to Kanoya Airbase in Kagoshima prefecture, southwestern Japan, as part of the Valiant Shield and Orient Shield joint exercises, the newswire reported. This marks the second deployment of the Typhon mid-range capability system to Japan after a unit participated in exercises last September. Although the report said that the missiles and launchers would remain in storage in Japan following the exercises, the Russian news agency TASS reported May 22 that the Japanese Embassy in Moscow had informed press the unit would be gone “by mid-October.” The Russian government criticized the move as “seriously detrimental” to the “stability and security of the Asia-Pacific region.” The missile unit is intended to contribute to long-range land- and maritime-attack capabilities of U.S. military forces in the Asia-Pacific, mirroring similar long-range conventional weapons in the Chinese arsenal. A Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson described the Tomahawk ground-launcher as “a strategic offensive weapon [that] will harm the legitimate security interests of other countries,” at a May 22 press conference. Comment Period on U.S. Plutonium Pit Production Plan Closes July 15 The Department of Energy’s semi-autonomous National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) will continue receiving written public comments on its draft programmatic environmental impact statement for plans to expand plutonium pit production until July 15. The agency invites comments from state and local governments, public interest groups, businesses, and individual members of the public. The draft programmatic environmental impact statement assesses the likely consequences of three production alternatives, none of which include no expansion of plutonium pit production capacity. The draft ultimately endorses the NNSA’s plans to produce 80 pits per year at Los Alamos National Laboratories and the Savannah River Site, as mandated by Congress. Vatican Calls for Nuclear Disarmament, Limits on Autonomous Weapons In a major May 15 theological statement, the Catholic Church called for limits on autonomous weapons and decried the “erroneous belief that nuclear deterrence is an indispensable prerequisite for security.” The statement, an encyclical promulgated by Pope Leo XIV, comes after months of rhetorical clashes with the White House over the church’s promotion of peace and disarmament. The encyclical primarily addresses the implications of artificial intelligence technologies, but also touches on other peace and security issues. In a brief section on nuclear weapons, it criticizes the belief that lower-yield “miniaturized” nuclear weapons can be “a more viable option” for use in warfare. It laments that a shared “recognition of the threat posed by weapons capable of destroying all of humanity” has been “left behind,” contributing to a new arms race. The encyclical also acknowledges the 2021 Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, but notes that major nuclear powers have not acceded to the treaty. The new theological statement calls for accountability built into and responsible human control over autonomous weapons, as well as an international regime to “curb the technological arms race and ensure robust protection for civilians and the infrastructures necessary for their survival.” For further coverage of the Papal encyclical, please look forward to the July/August edition of Arms Control Today. In Case You Missed It: “2026 Adopted Resolutions: Urging the United States to Lead a Global Effort to Halt and Reverse the Nuclear Arms Race,” U.S. Conference of Mayors, June 2026. “Premeditated: 2025 Global Nuclear Weapons Spending,” Alicia Sanders-Zakre and Susi Snyder, International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, June 2026. “Friendly Proliferation: Assessing U.S. Perceptions on Proliferation Among Allies and Partners,” Astrid Chevreuil, Center for Strategic International Studies, June 9. “Mitigating Miscalculation: The Role of Pre-Launch Notifications in Strategic Stability,” William Alberque et al., Pacific Forum, May 2026. “Contriving Imaginary Gaps in Nuclear Deterrence,”Jay Tilden, War on the Rocks, May 29. “Trump's Nuclear Review,” Madelyn Creedon et al., RealClearDefense, May 26. “Restrain and Hedge: A New U.S. Nuclear Strategy for a Two-Peer World,” Tyler Bowen, War on the Rocks, May 15. “The “Karaganov Debate”: How Policy Entrepreneurs Shape Russia’s Nuclear Doctrine,” Alexander Graef and Gabriela Iveliz Rosa Hernandez, Global Studies Quarterly, April 24. “Future-Proofing U.S. Nuclear Policy: Forecasting Outcomes of the Nuclear-Armed Sea-Launched Cruise Missile,” Amy J. Nelson and Mariam Kvaratskhelia, New America, Feb. 26. On the Disarmament Calendar July 7: 9th anniversary of the adoption of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons July 16: 81st anniversary of the Trinity test August 6 and 9: 81st anniversary of the U.S. atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki August 29: International Day Against Nuclear Tests September 24: 30th anniversary of the opening for signature of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Nov. 30- Dec. 3: First Review Conference of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, New York
2026 NPT Konferansı İran ve ABD-İsrail Anlaşmazlıklarıyla ÇöktüMeloni, Trump have 'clarification' meeting at G7 - sources
(ANSA) - ROME, JUN 16 - Premier Giorgia Meloni and United States President Donald Trump had a "clarification" meeting on the sidelines of Monday evening's leaders' dinner at the G7 summit in Evian, sources said on Tuesday. The sources said it was a "useful exchange" and that there will be other opportunities for dialogue between the two leaders during the summit. They said the Italian premier reiterated the principle that Western unity is "absolutely necessary in this moment of great international crisis" and both sides agreed on this. Meloni had been big friends with Trump, and she was the only European leader invited to his inauguration last year, until the Iran war. Trump accused Italy of not being helpful and said Meloni had changed. The Italian government's stance included refusing the US permission to use an air base in Sicily for raids during the war. The premier also drew Trump's ire by defending Pope Leo XIV after the president said he was "weak on crime" and "terrible for foreign policy" following his criticism of the war. (ANSA). Read article...
Meloni ve Trump, G7 Zirvesi'nde 'Netleştirme' Toplantısı YaptıMoscow vs the Vatican: When Putin attacks the Pope in Africa
It’s not only US President Donald Trump who is riled by Pope Leo XIV. Russian intelligence services and influence networks have revived their smear campaigns against the Catholic Church in Africa, with the American Pope their latest target.
The Open Centre: Reimagining Europe’s offer to a fractured world
The Open Centre: Reimagining Europe’s offer to a fractured world The World Today iallan.drupal 8 June 2026 Europe must resist the temptation to become a fortress in a closed West. Instead, amid America and China’s gepolitical struggle, it has the history and values to be the place where the rest of the world finds common cause, writes Grégoire Roos. Introducing ‘The World Tomorrow’ The international order by which much of the world, for better or for worse, has lived for nearly eight decades is eroding. What might succeed it? To try to answer that question and the many others that come with it, we are introducing ‘The World Tomorrow’, a strand for fresh ideas about the direction of global order. To start, Grégoire Roos presents his vision of a new role for Europe – we hope you enjoy it and the occasional essays, interviews and conversations that will follow. Visitors to the recent exhibitions in Germany commemorating the 250th anniversary of the painter Caspar David Friedrich would have been struck by the peculiar, almost mystical, posture of his solitary figures on the edge of the void. So intent are they on the world dissolving into mist before them that they seem almost to overlook the first light gathering beyond it. Neither simply melancholic nor entirely despairful, those are figures of hesitation – poised between what is fading and what is beginning. Carney’s speech said what many European leaders hesitate to say aloud: we are living through a definite rupture, not a passing disturbance. Friedrich’s wanderers offer a fitting metaphor for Europe’s predicament today: a civilization pressed to decide whether it wishes merely to remember the world it once shaped, or to help mould the world now coming into view. That question is no longer aesthetic or philosophical alone. It has become brutally strategic for the whole continent. In this regard, Canadian prime minister Mark Carney’s speech at Davos earlier this year was striking not because it told us anything entirely new, but because it said plainly what many European leaders still hesitate to say aloud: we are living through a definite rupture, not a passing disturbance. Finnish president Alexander Stubb, for his part, has moved from describing a ‘triangle of power’, that is, a world order structured around three geopolitical blocs: the Global North, led by the United States and Europe, the Global East, led by China and the Global South, with no leading power. He now admits that it looks more like a ‘rectangle’, since the old transatlantic reflex can no longer be taken for granted given the accelerating split between the United States and Europe. And hovering over both is the bracing admonition of S. Jaishankar, India’s minister of external affairs, that Europe must outgrow the habit of thinking that ‘Europe’s problems are the world’s problems, but the world’s problems are not Europe’s problems.’ Together, these interventions amount to a strategic summons. Europe can afford neither nostalgia nor delusion. The temptation is to respond to this moment in one of two familiar and equally sterile ways. The first is melancholy: to speak as if the answer lay in restoring the vanished certainties of the post‑1945 or post‑1989 order. The second is mimicry: to conclude that, since the age is one of hard power, Europe must simply become colder, harsher, more transactional. Both instincts miss the point. Europe’s opportunity to recover relevance and purpose lies elsewhere. A wider European grammar By Europe, what is meant here is not only the European Union but a wider civilizational basin encompassing all European societies that belong to the continent’s historical argument even when they do not sit within the same institutions. There are already faint signs of such a wider European grammar: the European Political Community, for all its looseness, convenes nearly the whole continent around a language of common stability and prosperity that reaches well beyond the EU’s formal borders. At its best, Europe has not abolished conflict; it has somehow civilized it. That opportunity is to become what one might call the centre that holds. The phrase matters. Europe has long been haunted by the fear that ‘the centre cannot hold’, W.B. Yeats’s 1919 description of post‑First World War Europe, where ‘mere anarchy is loosed upon the world’. Today’s fear is that pluralism dissolves into chaos, that compromise decays into weakness, and that openness ends in fragmentation. Yet, for the centre to hold, it cannot close itself against plurality. It must remain open. This is not civilization as enclosure, still less as the closed‑West idiom now favoured in Washington. It is civilization in a radically different sense: not walls, but, in the words of Pope Leo XIV, ‘bridges through dialogue and encounter’. A centre holds not by suppressing difference, but by giving it form – by accommodating plurality without surrendering coherence. Europe’s deepest historical achievement has never been domination as such. It has been the difficult art of giving form to plurality; of building institutions in which rival powers, rival classes, rival memories and rival truths can coexist without tearing the political fabric apart. At its best, Europe has not abolished conflict; it has somehow civilized it. — Caspar David Friedrich’s Wanderer above the Sea of Fog. Photo: DeAgostini / Getty Images. This is not a claim of innocence. Europe knows too much of empire, hierarchy, hypocrisy and violence to indulge in moral self‑worship. It has preached universalism while practising exclusion; it has spoken in the language of law while often living by exceptions. Precisely for that reason, any serious European project for the 21st century must begin not in self‑congratulation but in humility. An ‘open centre’ is not a closed fortress with better manners. It is not a sanctimonious core issuing instructions to a wayward periphery. It is not the centre to which everyone must return, but the point at which differences can still be held in balance, and a common direction can still be forged. In that sense, it is not an exclusive point of reference, but it has the potential to act as a force for measure and equilibrium in a world of excess and instability. Jaishankar’s witty provocation should be heard in Europe not as an insult but as a moral reality check. Asia, the Persian Gulf, Africa and Latin America do not organize their priorities around Europe’s anxieties. Their concerns lie elsewhere: development, debt, technology, borders, food security, urbanization, energy access and sovereign room for manoeuvre. If Europe wishes to matter in such a world, it must first accept that it is no longer the measure of all things. And, paradoxically, that act of decentring is a moral necessity as well as a geopolitical one. Europe’s ‘fourth way’ French philosopher Paul Ricœur understood early that the true test of universality in a plural world is whether it can be translated without turning imperial. His idea of ‘linguistic hospitality’ offers a clue: Europe will recover credibility not by renouncing universality, but by learning to translate it. Europe will matter more, not less, once it stops mistaking its own experience for the measure of the world. Europe will matter more, not less, once it stops mistaking its own experience for the measure of the world. But accepting that the world is no longer Europe‑centric does not mean renouncing the European vocation altogether. It means redefining it. In the emerging configuration sketched by Carney and Stubb, Europe’s ‘fourth way’ would not be a nostalgic third way warmed over for a harsher age, but a path between American volatility, Chinese‑style authoritarian capitalism, and a wider world increasingly tempted by transactional hedging. Europe’s offer would be neither hegemonic nor passive, neither imperial nor merely procedural, but something rarer: a power of reconciliation. It would be the proposition that liberty can be married to protection, innovation to conscience, prosperity to social cohesion, sovereignty to cooperation, and identity to openness. Carney’s phrase – actually borrowed from Stubb – for this is ‘value‑based realism’. The term is useful precisely because it refuses both sentimental idealism and crude simplification. Yet, such a project cannot be proclaimed abroad before it is built at home. World order – or order abroad – rests on order at home. This is the point on which too much Brussels rhetoric and too much national politics across the continent still founders. Europe’s external incoherence is not only the result of institutional complexity. It is the outward symptom of an inward crisis: distrust in politics, social atomization, cultural pessimism, waning prosperity, exhausted public services, generational frustration and, perhaps worst of all, the growing sense that democratic governments are failing not only in action, but also in imagination. 58% of respondents across 10 countries in Europe were dissatisfied with how democracy was working, according to a Pew study. The malaise is measurable. In 2025, Pew found a median 58 per cent across 23 countries dissatisfied with how democracy was working, with satisfaction in Europe ranging from 75 per cent in Sweden to just 19 per cent in Greece. No society will sustain ambition abroad for long if its citizens experience only drift at home. Politics depends on the existence of what Hannah Arendt aptly called a ‘common world’ in which citizens still feel they have a stake, a voice and a future. Once that world frays, public life gives way to resentment, passivity or tribal retreat. Foreign policy follows the same rule. A society unsure of its own future cannot sustain ambition abroad for long. A Europe that doubts itself will oscillate between sermon and retreat, proclamation and paralysis. Arendt, writing in the aftermath of Europe’s totalitarian collapse, understood as much. Domestic renewal So, the first chapter of any credible European playbook for the new world order is domestic renewal. Not as a preface to geopolitics. But as geopolitics’ very condition of possibility. Europe needs a new civic and material bargain with its own citizens. It needs to prove, in visible ways, that democracy can still build, protect and inspire. That means affordable and reliable energy, yes, but also housing in which the least privileged can imagine living with a sense of pride and dignity; transport and digital infrastructures that reduce distance rather than reproduce fractures; universities and research ecosystems capable of attracting not only the best minds unsettled by America’s academic crackdown, but also talent from Africa, Latin America and Asia; culture and the arts made accessible to everyone; manufacturing strength in the sectors that will define technological sovereignty; public institutions that are competent enough to be trusted and simple enough to be legible. The World Today Related work The decline of the West and the rise of ‘the Rest’ will lead to a new world order Recent efforts to present Europe as a haven for research freedom suggest that some have begun to grasp the stakes, even if slogans still fall well short of strategy. Yet in this age, power requires more than capability. It requires promise. Europe’s greatest strategic deficit is not merely military or fiscal; it is narrative. It does not sufficiently know how to speak of itself except as a market, a rulebook or a risk‑averse peace project. None of that is irrelevant. But none of it is enough. Europe must relearn how to talk about greatness without drifting into a new form of megalomanic expansionism; about ambition without arrogance; about civilization without exclusion. It must once again sound like a place that knows where it wants to go. If it succeeds in doing so at home, then its external projection becomes clearer. The open centre would not present itself to the wider world as a tutor. It would act as a partner of choice in solving concrete problems: scaling research cooperation, widening access to education and training, financing infrastructure that is sustainable rather than extractive, designing AI and digital standards that protect human dignity and fair competition, building resilient supply chains without demanding ideological conformity or falling into moral lectures, and strengthening multilateral rules while accepting that those rules must better reflect non‑European realities. The open centre does not merely invite others into institutions Europe built yesterday; it is willing to reshape those institutions so that others can recognize themselves within them tomorrow. Inclusion is not charity That principle matters particularly in global governance. Europe cannot go on invoking the legitimacy of multilateralism while resisting any meaningful redistribution of voice within it. If the world’s demographic, economic and political gravity is shifting south and east, then institutional authority must begin to follow. That would start with Africa and greater Asia gaining a seat at the table of the permanent members of the UN Security Council – even if that alone would obviously not save the United Nations. A Europe serious about being an open centre would do the same more broadly: not out of self‑denial, but out of strategic intelligence. Inclusion is not charity. It is the condition under which legitimacy survives. Such openness also means taking science and risk seriously. A centre that holds in the 21st century cannot be merely juridical or diplomatic; it must be epistemic. It must be able to absorb uncertainty, marshal expertise and govern frontier technologies without either naivety or paralysis. A centre that holds is that in which citizens will see their dignity as human beings equally recognized and enshrined. Europe should not accept the false choice between hyper‑regulation and techno‑anarchy. It can be the place where innovation scales without shrinking the individual, and where technology remains bounded by dignity, judgment and purpose. A centre that holds is that in which citizens will see their dignity as human beings equally recognized and enshrined. The real point, then, is not that Europe should seek to become ‘No.1’. That would be to mistake yesterday’s grammar of power for tomorrow’s. Europe’s ambition should be more original than that. It should aim at becoming the indispensable organizer of cooperation among powers that do not fully trust one another but cannot flourish alone. It should become the arena in which compatibility is made possible: between markets and morals, states and societies, science and politics, plurality and cohesion. That is what an open centre is for. The virtue of steadiness This would also answer a deeper moral question. In a fragmented world, the highest political virtue is no longer purity; it is steadiness. For the centre to hold, it cannot impose uniformity as a citadel of self‑reference. It must remain open; what Édouard Glissant called a space of relation – an ‘initiation to totality without renouncing the particular’. It is to prevent disintegration. It is to create enough trust, enough credibility, enough competence and enough shared aspiration that differences do not become fatal. Having spent the past 12 centuries wrestling with plurality in a confined space, Europe is unusually equipped for that task. It has learned, often painfully, that coexistence is a political achievement, not a natural state. The world may yet find that capability useful. Viktor Orbán’s defeat may point to a wider truth: a politics of fortress nostalgia is unlikely to prevail indefinitely. None of this will happen through managerialism alone. The preliminary conclusion is therefore also an opening: Europe now needs political leadership driven by substance, steadiness and the audacity to dream. Substance, because rhetoric without delivery will deepen the contempt already stalking democratic politics. Steadiness, because the coming years will reward those who can sustain direction amid shocks. And audacity to dream, because no great political community has ever renewed itself by balance sheets alone. ‘Dream’ is not the opposite of ‘resolve’. In world politics, it is often its truest companion. Hungary’s recent turn after Viktor Orbán’s defeat may, in this respect, point to a wider truth: a politics of fortress nostalgia is unlikely to prevail indefinitely. Fear can mobilize; only a dream can awaken. That is why the next cycle of major European elections matters so much, beginning with France’s presidential contest in 2027. The question in those campaigns will not simply be who governs. It will be whether Europe continues to be narrated as a civilization in decline, oscillating between fear and nostalgia, or whether it rediscovers the ambition to shape the age in its own register. The continent does not need leaders who promise a return to the 19th century with better apps. It needs leaders willing to state, calmly and convincingly, that Europe can still be a maker of order because it is willing first to become a maker of confidence, possibility and purpose at home.
Chatham House: Avrupa, ABD-Çin Rekabetinde Açık Merkez OlmalıLee received by pope at Vatican
President Lee Jae Myung on Monday met with Pope Leo XIV at the Vatican, on the second leg of his Europe visit. He was scheduled to depart for France later in the day, where he will attend the G7 meeting. After his audience with the pope, Lee was to subsequently meet Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin. Lee held his first talks with the pope since his inauguration in June 2025. The last meeting between a South Korean president and the pope was when President Moon Jae-in met later P
Lee kicks off Vatican visit, poised to meet Pope Leo XIV
President Lee Jae Myung is to meet Pope Leo XIV on Monday, as his European trip hits its halfway point. On Sunday, Lee attended a special Mass for peace and solidarity the Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls in Rome. He also delivered a speech in the Vatican, the landlocked city-state surrounded by Rome, highlighting South Korea’s commitment to global peace and Vatican City’s role in achieving peace on the Korean Peninsula. The next day, Lee was to hold talks with Pope Leo XIV for the first
Technical problem on pope's plane, king boards and escorts him to VIP lounge
(ANSA) - ROME, JUN 12 - A technical problem occurred as the papal flight carrying Leo XIV back to Rome from Spain was about to begin takeoff, and King Felipe VI boarded and escorted the American pontiff back to the VIP lounge to wait for the glitch to be fixed. An announcement from the captain explained the situation to those on board, and a few minutes later, Felipe himself, who had just bid farewell to Leo, boarded the plane to invite the pontiff to disembark and wait in the VIP lounge at the Tenerife air base for the problem to be resolved. (ANSA). Read article...
In an age of 'false realism,' Pope Leo presses for strategic restraint
Observers could easily dismiss Pope Leo XIV’s “Magnifica Humanitas” as just another document on artificial intelligence. But under the surface lies a deeper question: whether modern political elites still have both the ability and the moral clarity to place restraints on power. The era of technology poses a choice between power domination and collective responsibility. Leo writes that technology “takes on the characteristics of those who devise, finance, regulate and use it.” The pope’s analysis has consequences for international affairs: for the regulation of AI development and deployment, the conduct of war and cyber wars, the process of deterrence, and the very nature of international order. The greatest danger posed by technology is that it might enable, or even encourage, leaders to evade their responsibilities and pursue wanton escalation. While “Magnifica Humanitas” is certainly concerned with ethical issues related to artificial intelligence, its primary provocation is to challenge the culture of foreign policy that sees militarization, retaliation, and great-power rivalries as permanent realities of politics. Against "false realism" and the "culture of power" Pope Leo rails against the “false realism” that has come to mean a political culture characterized by dominance and access to scarce resources. In this zero-sum approach, the common good becomes an unattainable illusion; in wars, strategic interest prevails over the needs of people, and military escalation is considered an inherent characteristic of international relations rather than a failed form of politics. The “culture of power” that Leo describes is an attitude in politics where more attention is paid to the quest for domination, technology, and military advantage rather than to the general welfare of individuals. This culture is dangerous because it is not presented as an ideology, but as a practice. It implies warfare, militarization, weakening of international organizations, and “a false realism that insists that there is no alternative.” In its place, Leo proposes “healthy realism,” which “avoids both political idealism and cynicism.” He defines healthy realism as one that does not overlook the reality of competition, aggression, and insecurity but asks pragmatically how it can help minimize violence and uphold human dignity. Healthy realism involves creating credible structures, engaging in good faith negotiations, preventing conflicts, creating verifiable guarantees, and protecting civilians. These elements present a useful definition of strategic restraint. Strategic restraint implies a rejection of the idea that military force should play a dominant role in foreign policy. Achieving this task requires effective institutions that will slow down attempts at escalation. Negotiations allow leaders to explore alternative solutions and preserve possibilities of cooperation that can open pathways to de-escalation and produce rules designed to protect civilians during unavoidable wars. AI makes restraint harder and more necessary Leo’s warnings concerning artificial intelligence are important for security policy, since the development of AI technology reduces decision-making time, obscures responsibility, and lowers the threshold for escalation. As Leo notes, the digital revolution gave birth to various types of hybrid warfare, including cyberattacks, disinformation campaigns, manipulation of data, and even “automation of strategic decisions.” Speed is an advantage in traditional warfare. However, in cyber conflict and AI-assisted warfare, decisions often have to be made before leaders have gathered enough information to respond. In a cyberattack, officials may know that a breach or intrusion has occurred, yet remain uncertain about who was responsible, whether a government was involved, or what kind of response would be proportional and appropriate. Similarly, AI systems can identify threats, suggest targets, or prioritize actions before human decision-makers fully understand the situation and create a plan. As a result, a response can be made under conditions of extreme pressure and confusion, thus causing even greater risks: the cyberattacks, disinformation, and manipulations can affect the functioning of the country before the full-scale war starts, and the problem of attribution makes escalation, and even military aggression, more likely. Leo’s key insight here is that as warfare becomes more automated, keeping human accountability in the decision loop becomes increasingly difficult. Strategic restraint requires leaders to reject the idea that every new technological capability should be used just because it is available. A state should not deploy a weapon, launch a cyber operation, or intensify a crisis merely because technology makes those actions quicker or more convenient. Decisions about whether and how to act must remain matters of sound political judgment, rather than being driven solely by military capabilities. Why multilateralism is not globalism Leo also discusses multilateralism as a key instrument of power restraint. First, it should be noted that Leo is not talking about technocratic and globalist multilateralism that tries to dissolve national sovereignty and national identity. In his view, power should be limited via laws and dialogue, and international institutions that prevent any form of imposition from the part of the strongest states are especially important. Thus, for Leo, multilateralism is not the opposite of realism but rather an instrument that prevents realism from turning into domination. Leo speaks about the need to create “more effective international institutions” and calls for the safeguarding of the global common good. However, he emphasizes that such institutions must not erode “the legitimate diversity of peoples and nations.” In other words, it is possible to achieve multilateral security without eroding nations’ sovereignty and eliminating national identities. Nations will be able to preserve their identity and dignity while living in the broader framework of morality respected by all states. Such an understanding of multilateralism correlates with the principle of strategic restraint. International institutions can serve as forums of negotiation; methods for peaceful resolution of conflicts and protection of civilians during inevitable conflicts; and means for communicating when it is impossible to negotiate bilaterally. Leo pays special attention to this aspect, noting that diplomacy is an “irreplaceable” tool in conflict prevention and restoring trust even between antagonistic parties. Leo also understands that the current international system is imperfect and that international institutions can hardly prevent escalation, although they were originally created precisely for that purpose. The pope highlights the weaknesses of the United Nations and calls for “profound reforms.” For policymakers interested in foreign policy, this message means that multilateralism is crucially important. It can help ease tension between states before mutual grievances turn to arms races and, eventually, military conflict. With the development of cybertechnologies, AI-assisted warfare, and nuclear modernization, along with deteriorating relations between great powers, restraint cannot exist solely as an abstract concept. There must be international institutions that prevent escalation. Security policy: protecting civilians Leo argues that security should not necessarily imply permanent mobilization and readiness for action. It is true that foreign policy is mostly concerned with threats, but, the pope writes, those most seriously affected by political events are civilians: refugees, migrants, displaced persons, and other groups whose lives can be endangered during international tensions. Therefore, Leo suggests putting civilians first in foreign policy. Leo extends the above idea to the area of disarmament. He speaks out against focusing exclusively on military potential, which leads to the expansion of nuclear arsenals and development of new types of weapons, such as “tactical” or “miniaturized” arms. And he argues that, in this case, deterrence can lead to catastrophe: with the reduction of nuclear bombs, the likelihood of their use increases. “Magnifica Humanitas” asks policymakers and political leaders whether they can apply the language of restraint forcefully enough to resist the acceptance of war. Restraint, the pope argues, should be built upon international law, institutions, diplomatic practice, disarmament, protection of civilians and refugees, and humanitarian development. In a world shaped by AI targeting, cyber warfare, nuclear weapons, and permanent crisis, the real choice is not between realism and idealism. It is between a realism anchored in law and human dignity, and a realism so emptied by fear that only the strongest, fastest, and most heavily armed prevail. If that is realism, Leo warns, it is realism stripped of reality, and perhaps of hope for the future.
Papa Leo’dan Yapay Zekâ Çağında Stratejik İtidal ÇağrısıPope condemns 'indifference' towards migrants on Canaries trip
ARGUINEGUIN (SPAIN) - Pope Leo XIV on Thursday condemned "indifference" towards migrants during a visit to Spain's Canary Islands that symbolised the perils of deadly irregular routes to Europe.
Papa Leo XIV Kanarya Adaları'nda göçmenlere kayıtsızlığı kınadıPope says Europe cannot 'get used to counting the dead' in migration crisis
Leo XIV calls for safe migration routes, rescue operations, stronger action against traffickers
Pope tells women victims of trafficking there is no price for their bodies
(ANSA) - ROME, JUN 11 - Pope Leo XIV on Thursday told women victims of trafficking on the Canary Islands that there was no price that could be paid for their bodies. Speaking in Las Palmas, Leo said: "Every human life is a blessing. No one can buy, sell, use, or discard it." Speaking after listening to the testimony of a woman victim of trafficking who spoke on behalf of all women victims, the North American pontiff added: "If others have put a price on your body." Leo continued at the migrant dock: "God has never stopped looking at you as a person of inestimable value. If they have treated you like a thing, the Church wants to tell you today: you are a daughter and a sister, your life does not belong to those who have harmed you, your body does not belong to those who have taken advantage of you, and it has a dignity that no one can take away from you." The pope added that human dignity has no passport. "Human dignity has no passport, nor does it lose value when crossing a border," Leo said at the port of Arguineguin, a major landing place for migrants on the Atlantic route. "Human dignity requires legal and safe routes, rescue and assistance, real cooperation against traffickers, effective protection for victims, and serious processes of reception and integration." "If there is the right to seek refuge," he added, "there is also the right not to have to migrate: to remain in one's own home without hunger, without war, without persecution, without corruption stealing bread from the poor and without weapons destroying the future of children." (ANSA). Read article...
- Güvenlik10 Haz
Pope says Christians cannot promote war in veiled Trump swipe
Pope Leo XIV insists Christians cannot believe in Jesus and kill the innocent or abandon those who flee from misery.
- Güvenlik09 Haz
Pope warns of growing mental health crisis, domestic violence at Barcelona Vigil
Pope Leo XIV on Tuesday urged greater attention to mental health after hearing emotional testimonies from young people at a prayer vigil in Barcelona, including a woman who described surviving a suicide attempt. He called on public health systems to address the "invisible and widespread malaise" of depression and warned that mental well-being is increasingly under threat.
Papa Leo’dan İspanya’da ‘kutuplaştırıcı söylemlere son’ çağrısı Private meeting between pope and Bad Bunny in Madrid
(ANSA) - ROME, JUN 9 - Pope Leo XIV met privately with anti-Trump Puerto Rican rapper Bad Bunny in Madrid Monday night, the Holy See Press Office said Tuesday. The 32-year-old singer-songwriter, actor and professional wrestler, whose real name is Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, was received with his family and others, whom the Pontiff briefly greeted at the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium after his meeting with the diocesan community. (ANSA). Read article...
Is the pope a Real Madrid fan? Leo’s admission upsets Barcelona faithful
Pontiff appeals in Catalan for harmony on Barcelona leg of Spain tour after making football foes in city To the delight of many, Pope Leo XIV kicked off the Barcelona leg of his week-long visit to Spain with a few words in Catalan, calling on the faithful who had gathered in the city’s cathedral on Tuesday “to build harmony and communion beyond all polarisation”. The pontiff’s familiar and commendable plea for people to set aside their differences may, however, have come a little late. Three days earlier, while chatting to journalists on the flight to Spain, Leo had made an awkward confession. Continue reading...
In Spain, Pope Leo focuses on opposition to war and help to migrants
Pope Leo XIV's week-long visit is well underway. The pontiff's schedule included an unprecedented address to the Spanish parliament, during which he voiced opposition to increased European military spending. Leo also met with several survivors of abuse by Catholic clergy in Spain, and called on bishops to offer survivors reparations, as he seeks to address a scandal that has severely marred the local Church's credibility.
Papa Leo’dan İspanya’da ‘kutuplaştırıcı söylemlere son’ çağrısıPope urges action on ‘tragic drama’ of migration
MADRID: Pope Leo XIV called for a global response to the “tragic drama” of migration and said world peace was a “true global imperative” in an unprecedented address to the Spanish parliament on Monday. The pope also urged lawmakers to defend life “from conception to its natural end”, in a country whose left-wing government has legalised euthanasia under strict conditions and wants to include abortion rights in the constitution. The leader of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics later on Monday will reportedly meet in private with victims of sexual abuse by clergy, which he has called “an open wound” for the Church. In his address to parliament, he called for “safe and legal pathways” for immigration and for migrants to be given “a respectful welcome and real opportunities for integration”. “The tragic drama of migration... challenges the conscience of nations and the ethical foundation of the international order today,” he said. In contrast with many of its European allies, Spain under Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has a relatively liberal immigration policy. But the government is under pressure on the issue from the main conservative Popular Party and from far-right party Vox, now the nation’s third-largest political force. The pope’s seven-day visit to Spain will include a trip to the Canary Islands, where he will pay tribute to the migrants who have lost their lives at sea on perilous journeys from Africa. The Spanish archipelago has become one of the main entry points for irregular migrants into Europe. The pope, who has been harshly criticised by US President Donald Trump for his anti-war views, also called for “patient dialogue” instead of conflict and rearmament in Europe and beyond. “Weapons may impose a temporary silence but they can never build a genuine and lasting peace,” he said. Published in Dawn, June 9th, 2026
Papa Leo’dan İspanya’da ‘kutuplaştırıcı söylemlere son’ çağrısıPope uses Spain speech to warn of global ‘spiritual and cultural crisis’
Addressing lawmakers, Leo XIV also highlights migration at a time when Madrid is bucking European trends Pope Leo XIV has used a landmark address to the Spanish parliament to warn the world is undergoing “a deep spiritual and cultural crisis” and to urge the international community to tackle the causes and consequences of what he termed “the tragic drama of migration”. In a wide-ranging speech delivered to lawmakers in Madrid, the pontiff also touched on conflict, artificial intelligence, the climate emergency, and the issues of abortion and euthanasia. Continue reading...
Papa Leo’dan İspanya’da ‘kutuplaştırıcı söylemlere son’ çağrısıGive reparations for abuse victims, pope tells Spanish bishops
(ANSA) - ROME, JUN 8 - The Catholic Church must give reparations to sexual abuse victims, Pope Leo XIV told Spanish bishops on his visit to Spain Monday. "Our journey is made of encounters," "one of the most painful is with those who have been hurt by the very people who should have cared for them, including members of the clergy," said Leo at the headquarters of the Episcopal Conference. "Faced with this scourge, the ecclesial community is called to respond with listening, truth, justice, reparation, and an ever-deepening commitment to prevention and a culture of care. Every wounded person must be able to find sincere listening, acceptance, protection, and real paths to healing." In other remarks, Leo voiced concern over re-armament presented as inevitable; said that no nation should be left on its own to cope with migrant flows; and repeated the dogma of defending natural life from conception to death. (ANSA). Read article...
Pope Leo says US-Israeli war against Iran fails 'just war' test
Pope Leo XIV told journalists aboard his flight to Madrid that the centuries-old just war theory no longer reflects the realities of modern warfare, directly challenging Washington's justification for strikes against Tehran amid his escalating public rift with the Trump administration.
- Güvenlik12 Nis
Kamel Ghribi backs Pope’s call to end global conflicts
Pope Leo XIV arrives in Africa with his anti-war message already at full pitch.
US–Iran ceasefire: What it means for Trump, Tehran, Israel and US allies. Early analysis from Chatham House experts
US–Iran ceasefire: What it means for Trump, Tehran, Israel and US allies. Early analysis from Chatham House experts Expert comment jon.wallace 8 April 2026 What does the ceasefire mean for the Islamic Republic, President Trump, the Strait of Hormuz and the UK? And how should the world respond to challenges to the humanitarian legal order? The US, Israel and Iran announced a ceasefire on 7 April, leading to an end to attacks by each side and the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz. The announcement came shortly before a deadline set by US President Donald Trump for Iran to reopen the Strait. The president had previously threatened to bomb Iran ‘into the Stone Ages’ and destroy its ‘whole civilization’ if it did not comply. Both Washington and Tehran hailed the ceasefire, negotiated by Pakistan, as a victory. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the ceasefire did not apply to Israel’s operations in Lebanon. Here Chatham House experts provide their early analysis on the implications of the ceasefire, for the US, the region and the world. Dr Sanam Vakil on how difficult issues remain Professor Marc Weller on the credibility of international law Dr Marion Messmer on US strategic mistakes Olivia O’Sullivan on hard choices facing the UK Dr Sanam Vakil, Director of the Middle East and North Africa Programme: The ceasefire will be welcomed as a necessary step back from the brink after days of escalating strikes, mounting threats against Iranian and Gulf infrastructure, and continued disruption to shipping through the Strait of Hormuz. All of these elements underscored that this had become a war that no side was clearly winning and in which the costs were rising faster than any achievable gains. The most difficult issues will now have to be worked through in detail by negotiators in Islamabad: Can the United States offer credible assurances against renewed strikes and be trusted to uphold them? And is Iran willing to accept limits on its ability to threaten shipping in the Strait? Crucial to a lasting agreement is that Tehran demonstrates a willingness to compromise on its nuclear programme, through for instance a new inspection regime. Equally important is that Washington is willing to structure sanctions relief in a way that makes de-escalation politically sustainable on both sides. There remains a real possibility that tensions could resurface, whether through further threats, resumed pressure on the Strait, or the need to extend negotiations. Meanwhile, there is a real risk that regional considerations are sidelined. Iran has pushed for the ceasefire to extend to Lebanon, viewing the conflict there as part of the same confrontation. Yet Israel has made clear that its campaign against Hezbollah is not covered by the truce and is prepared to continue operations. Gulf states, meanwhile, are seeking assurances that they will not remain exposed to repeated pressure on their infrastructure and shipping routes. Israel remains deeply sceptical of any arrangement that leaves Iran’s missile, nuclear and regional capabilities intact. These are difficult issues that will not be easily resolved in a matter of weeks. With US forces still building up in the region and the risk of renewed escalation never far away, there remains a real possibility that tensions could resurface, whether through further threats, resumed pressure on the Strait, or the need to extend negotiations beyond their initial timeframe. If the talks in Islamabad focus too narrowly on American and Iranian priorities, they may succeed in stabilizing the immediate crisis while leaving the broader regional order fragile – and exposed to revived escalation. Professor Marc Weller, Director of the Global Governance and Security Centre: This ceasefire has been obtained under the threat of a massive attack against Iran’s civilian infrastructure. US President Donald Trump threatened to bomb Iran ‘back to the Stone Ages’ and to permanently erase its civilization. This may have been a further example of bluster and brinkmanship on the part of the president. Yet the threats raise further, profound questions about the credibility of international law as a tool of constraining the most powerful countries. US service-members and their commanding authorities who carried out the president’s threats would have exposed themselves to allegations of grave breaches of the law of armed conflict – although Iran, Israel and the US are not subject to the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court at The Hague. Crucially, international law develops through the practice of states. When states violate key tenets of the law, or credibly threaten to do so, it is the response of the rest of the world that decides whether this will create a new pattern of practice going against the established rules. In this instance, once again, there was no immediate chorus of condemnation from other countries in reply to President Trump’s threats, even as they challenged the humanitarian legal order at its core. It was left to Pope Leo XIV, an American, to speak out, declaring the threats against the people of Iran ‘unacceptable’. The world will need to learn to resist such challenges to the legal order, if it does not want to awake one day in a lawless and dangerous world where others routinely copy such behaviour. Meanwhile, serious immediate challenges to international law remain: Iran has shown it has the ability to choke off some 20 per cent of the global oil supply by blocking the Strait of Hormuz. However, instead of fully opening the Strait in exchange for the ceasefire, it insists, at least for now, on maintaining its control. That leaves the risk that Iran may continue to exclude ‘unfriendly’ flag states from passage through the Strait and subject others to inspections, delays and exorbitant fees. Dr Marion Messmer, Director of the International Security Programme The agreed ceasefire between the US and Iran is a welcome reprieve for the Middle East and the global community. But overall the US action has not provided the display of strength the Trump administration hoped for. It has depleted US ammunition stockpiles in the Middle East and shown the limits of existing US capabilities in terms of being able to intercept missiles and drones, as well as the extent to which the US does not have scalable and affordable anti-drone defences in place at its military bases. The US has also made a series of serious strategic mistakes: it has overestimated the role of air power in being able to effect regime change and drive outcomes and underappreciated Iran’s organisational and military resilience. The US use of force has undermined international law and the international order. The Trump administration threatened European allies that did not want to involve themselves in a war of choice by saying that the US might leave NATO, and it raised concerns among Asian allies by moving missile defence equipment to the Middle East. It is doubtful that this was worth the costs to US military capability, and more importantly, to US relationships and credibility. This has further undermined the credibility of US security guarantees, which will be difficult to recover and may further fuel proliferation dynamics. Furthermore, Israel’s insistence that its military action in Lebanon is not part of the agreement reveals a key vulnerability and shows the limits of the US ability to manage its allies: the ongoing bombing campaigns in Lebanon could undermine the ceasefire overall and keep the US trapped in a conflict it is now seeking to exit. After weeks of President Trump being furious with European allies for not sufficiently supporting the US, it now appears to be the alliance relationship with Israel that provides more of a risk to US interests in the Middle East. The 10-point peace plan published by the Iranian government also includes several points that the US has previously rejected, such as ongoing Iranian control over the Strait of Hormuz, and a US military withdrawal from the Middle East. It seems difficult to believe that the US can agree to these points and still declare a victory. While President Trump is celebrating the ceasefire as a US victory, it is looking likely that even the most successful outcome of the negotiations would only be a moderate improvement on the status quo before the war. It is doubtful that this was worth the costs to US military capability, and more importantly, to US relationships and credibility. Olivia O’Sullivan, Director of the UK in the World Programme Prime Minister Keir Starmer rightly called the temporary ceasefire agreed between the US and Iran a ‘moment of relief’. The reprieve is welcome, but a conclusive resolution remains out of reach. Iranian proposals for a long-term peace agreement still reportedly include demands the US will find difficult to accept, from Iran controlling or imposing tolls on the Strait of Hormuz, to sanctions on Iran being lifted. Starmer’s government will continue to be pulled into efforts to resolve the crisis. But they will also need to confront deeper questions about the UK’s alliance with the US – while planning for the likely prolonged economic effects of the war. Immediately, this is likely to mean continued regional diplomacy. Starmer has travelled to the Gulf on Wednesday to meet regional leaders. And the UK held a meeting of more than 40 countries last week to discuss ways to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. For the UK, these efforts are intended to manage the effects of the crisis and signal to the US and others it is playing a crucial role. But they are also an exercise in building coalitions with countries who badly need basic international norms – including principles on the use of force and freedom of navigation through international waterways – to hold. In the longer term, the crisis will create new urgency in defence and security cooperation with European nations and with the EU. The Trump administration’s erratic behaviour is making the kind of default Atlanticism that has driven UK foreign policy for decades less and less tenable. Decisions about whether to allow the US to use UK bases during the conflict have split UK political debate. And the question of how to build a defence and security architecture which is less dependent on the US has grown more urgent. For now, Starmer’s cautious position – allowing the use of bases by the US for defensive purposes but not offensive ones – seeks to carefully distance the UK from the conflict while recognizing it still has fundamental interests in defending regional allies, UK bases, and international shipping from the actions of Iran. In the longer term, the crisis will create new urgency in defence and security cooperation with European nations and with the EU. It should also force greater honesty with the public about the defence spending and planning needed to deal with a world where the UK’s principal defence partner has become unpredictable – and where basic security and diplomatic norms are becoming fragile. But the potential price shocks at home – from immediate fuel shortages and damage to critical shipping infrastructure in the region – may make exactly these decisions harder to sell to a weary public. Starmer has seen a very small uptick in his approval ratings during the course of the war – he will need to cling onto that momentum to manage its consequences. Chatham House experts will continue to provide analysis of developments in the conflict and the ceasefire in the coming days and weeks. Read more of our coverage of Iran and the Middle East.
US–Iran ceasefire: What it means for Trump, Tehran, Israel and US allies. Early analysis from Chatham House expertsPope visits Spain with focus on migrants amid political tensions
Pope Leo XIV arrives in Spain on Saturday for a seven-day trip focused on migration, including a visit to the Canary Islands where he will honour thousands of migrants who have died trying to reach Europe. The trip comes at a politically sensitive time as Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez is under attack over several corruption scandals involving his inner circle.