House Speaker Mike Johnson’s attempt to correct Pope Leo XIV on “just war doctrine” has turned into a theology fight with unusually sharp political stakes, after the lawmaker invoked a doctrine historically associated with St. Augustine against a pope who spent 12 years leading Augustine’s religious order.
Johnson told reporters Wednesday that the issue in the Middle East was “a very well-settled matter of Christian theology” and referred to “something called the just war doctrine” while responding to Pope Leo XIV’s condemnation of those who wage war.
The pope had previously said that Jesus “does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war,” a formulation the US Conference of Catholic Bishops later defended as consistent with Catholic teaching on war and peace.
The irony landed because Pope Leo XIV is not a casual participant in Augustinian theology. Born Robert Francis Prevost, he entered the Order of St. Augustine in 1977, studied canon law at the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas in Rome, and served as Prior General of the Augustinian Order from 2001 to 2013.
Augustine of Hippo, the fourth- and fifth-century bishop whose writings shaped Western Christianity, is central to the Catholic just war tradition. Reuters noted this week that Augustine formulated principles requiring war to be defensive, aimed at restoring peace, and not rooted in cruelty, even as those principles are being invoked in arguments over the US-Israel war in Iran.
Vice President JD Vance, a Catholic convert, also challenged the pope’s framing of just war theory during a Turning Point USA event, drawing a direct response from Bishop James Massa, chairman of the USCCB’s Committee on Doctrine. Massa said a war can be just only as a defense against another party that is actively waging war, and only after efforts toward peace have been exhausted.
In the current fight, the bishops’ intervention effectively narrowed the space for politicians seeking to use the doctrine as broad religious cover for the Iran war.
Pope Leo XIV has not directly personalized the dispute with Johnson or Vance, but he has continued emphasizing peace during his Africa trip. AP reported that he called for unity and interfaith dialogue while referencing Augustine’s teachings, while Reuters reported that he remained publicly firm in opposing the Iran conflict after criticism from President Donald Trump.
Catholics made up roughly 21% of the US electorate in 2024, and the fight places Republican leaders in the unusual position of telling the head of the Catholic Church that he is mishandling one of Catholicism’s most consequential moral doctrines.
The tension with the Catholic Church intensified after Trump posted an AI-generated image on Truth Social showing himself in flowing robes, placing a glowing hand on a sick man in a biblical-style scene. The image also included patriotic and religious-adjacent symbolism, including an American flag and eagle.
READ: Jesus Punches Trump In Iranian Embassy’s Response To Religious AI Post
In a chance interview, Johnson said he told Trump that his post “isn’t being received the same way he intended,” to which the president allegedly agreed. He clarified that Trump did not see the post as sacrilegious.
Trump later deleted the image after backlash from religious conservatives, Catholic commentators, and media figures who called it blasphemous or inappropriate. Vice President JD Vance defended the post as a joke, saying Trump “likes to mix it up,” while Trump claimed he thought the image showed him as a doctor tied to the Red Cross.
Information for this story was found via Letters From Leo and the sources and companies mentioned. The author has no securities or affiliations related to the organizations discussed. Not a recommendation to buy or sell. Always do additional research and consult a professional before purchasing a security. The author holds no licenses.
