Pope criticises how countries are using force to assert their dominion amid 'zeal for war'

The Pope has denounced countries for "completely undermining" peace, saying "war is back in vogue and a zeal for war is spreading".

Though he did not name specific nations, Leo XIV's remarks are being interpreted as a critique of US, Russian and other military incursions in other sovereign countries.

Leo told ambassadors during an annual audience with the Vatican diplomatic corps that traditional consensus-based diplomacy "is being replaced by a diplomacy based on force, by either individuals or groups of allies".

The pontiff said the principle established after the Second World War, prohibiting nations from using force to violate the borders of others, "has been completely undermined".

In the current climate, "peace is sought through weapons as a condition for asserting one's own dominion. This gravely threatens the rule of law, which is the foundation of all peaceful civil coexistence".

Friday's speech came nearly a week after the US ousted Venezuela's president Nicolas Maduro from power, and with the fourth anniversary of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine approaching.

The Pope said the majority-Catholic South American country needed a peaceful political solution that keeps in mind the "common good of the people and not the defence of partisan interests".

The US military seized Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, on 3 January in a surprise night-time raid in the capital, Caracas.

Washington is now seeking to control Venezuela's oil resources and its government.

President Trump announced the US is "going to run the country, until we can do a safe, proper and judicious transition" of power. It is not currently clear to what extent the US will be directly involved in Venezuela's internal politics.

The US government has insisted Maduro's capture was legal, saying drug cartels operating from Venezuela amounted to unlawful combatants and that the US is now in an "armed conflict" with them.

Analysts and some world leaders have condemned the mission, warning that Maduro's exit could lead to more military interventions and a further erosion of the global legal order.

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On Ukraine, Leo repeated his appeal for an immediate ceasefire and urgently called for the international community "not to waver in its commitment to pursuing just and lasting solutions".

On Gaza, Leo repeated the Holy See's call for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and insisted on the Palestinians' right to live in Gaza and the West Bank "in their own land".