Lament over folly of war

During a visit to First World War graves last weekend, Pope Francis said the eight million lives lost in the conflict showed that “war is folly”. “War ruins everything, even bonds between brothers. War is irrational; its only plan is to bring destruction: it seeks to grow by destroying,” he told those gathered at the war memor­ial at Redipuglia, near Gorizia, a town where his grandfather fought Austro-Hungarian troops.

That visit immediately followed one to the Isonzo Front cemetery in what is now Slovenia, where 14,500 members of the Austro-Hungarian forces are buried. The Pope went out on to the cemetery alone and prayed in silence among the graves for several minutes. He then laid a wreath in front of the main memorial and blessed a cross made by Slovenian pilgrims from wire found in the trenches.

The Pope’s remarks had particu­lar resonance in the light of the current deliberations of Western powers over how best to respond to the threat from the ­terrorist Islamic State, that has seized large swathes of territory in Iraq and Syria, murdered tens of thousands, and expelled hundreds of thousands. Previously Pope Francis had been seen as giving tacit support to US air strikes against the jihadis when he said it was permissible to “stop an unjust aggressor”.

Chaldean Catholic Patriarch Louis Sako of Baghdad has urged Pope Francis to go to Iraq to be “near his children”. While the Vatican has not given any indication that Francis will visit Iraq it has confirmed that he will visit Turkey at the end of November, and he may choose to visit the border with Syria.

Fears for Pope Francis’ security during his trip to Albania on 21 September have arisen, as Albanian and Kosovan intelligence agencies warned of jihadis returning from Iraq and Syria with the Pope in their sights. The Vatican said no special security measures would be taken.