Vatican Accuses EU of Double Standards on War

Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, the Vatican’s doctrinal chief, has accused the European Union of applying international law selectively, Politico reported.

Fernández made the remarks at the opening of a conference of cardinals on war, convened by Pope Leo XIV to examine what the Vatican calls the “culture of power” and to reevaluate the traditional doctrine of just war.

The pope has argued that the doctrine is too often used to justify military action, a position that has already brought him into conflict with US Vice President JD Vance over the war in Iran.

Fernández said governments were applying moral principles according to political convenience. He accused the EU of inconsistency, saying that “it imposes sanctions on one country and sends weapons to another, yet fails to do so in the case of other, more brutal invasions”.

He said concerns had been reduced to economic interests and that countries had stretched the concept of self-defense beyond recognition. He cited Russia and the United States as examples of countries using self-defense to justify interventions from Ukraine to the Middle East.

“There is no longer a genuine and stable framework of truth and values”, Fernández said.

The cardinal called for self-defense to be understood in the strictest sense and for preventive war to be rejected. Several working groups of cardinals agreed on the need to move beyond the traditional doctrine.

Pope Leo XIV welcomed the advice and said the Church would reevaluate its teaching on self-defense with the necessary theological and pastoral rigor.

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