As the US-Iran war is slowly petering out to an end, questions are being raised whether the war was a 'just' or 'unjust' war. Thousands of people have been killed and several countries in the Middle East destroyed, with repercussions all over the world, and fears of it escalating into World War III. In this context, it is pertinent to mention that the Catholic church's 'Just war' theory, preached over a thousand years back, permitting the use of the 'sword in defence' now seems outdated, as there are no swords in defence, except bombs and missiles hurled by both sides. It is therefore very unfortunate that Catholic US vice president JD Vance has lashed out at Pope Leo with a warning to be careful while using theology to describe the US -Iran conflict as 'unjust' .This was in the aftermath of Pope Leo's post on X that "God is never on the side of those who once wielded the sword and today drop bombs".
