Pope condemns aerial bombardment

“After the tragic experiences of the 20th century, aerial bombardment should have been banished forever!” Pope Leo XIV said Monday during an audience with airline executives and staff.

“Instead, as we know, it still exists, and technological development, which is positive in itself, is being put at the service of war. This is not progress, it is regression!” he added.

The pope, speaking to representatives of Italy’s national airline, ITA Airways, along with a delegation from the Lufthansa Group, emphasized that aviation must serve peace rather than conflict.

“Aircraft should always be vehicles of peace, never of war! No one should fear that threats of death and destruction will come from the sky,” he said.

Leo XIV also underscored the importance of fostering peace through global travel and cooperation.

“In this context, it becomes even more important to chart courses of peace in the skies,” he said.

The audience highlighted the long-standing relationship between the papacy and Italy’s national airline, dating back to St. Paul VI’s historic 1964 pilgrimage to the Holy Land — the first papal journey by air. Since then, successive popes have continued the tradition of international apostolic travel.

The pope noted that he himself plans to rely on ITA Airways for his upcoming trip to Africa in about 20 days.

Reflecting on papal travel more broadly, Leo XIV described such journeys as a visible expression of the Church’s mission.

“The papal flights are one of the most eloquent symbols of the mission of the successors of Peter in the contemporary age,” he said. “In a particular way, in his apostolic journeys, the pope appears to everyone as a messenger of peace: His routes are what they should always be, namely bridges of dialogue, of encounter, and of brotherhood.”

He also praised airline personnel for their professionalism and spirit of service.

“My predecessors and the collaborators who accompanied them on their international journeys found in the personnel of Alitalia and ITA not only qualified and experienced professionals, but also people capable of creating a serene, I would say almost family-like, atmosphere, where respect goes hand in hand with devotion,” he said.

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.