On Sunday, on his flight back to Rome, Pope Francis publicly condemned Israel’s newly launched airstrikes in Lebanon that targeted and killed Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah together with several civilians. “Such attacks,” the pontiff said, “go beyond morality.”

Speaking at an in-flight press conference, Pope Francis once again discussed how certain moral guidelines had to be followed in war. “War is immoral,” he said, “but the rules of war give it some morality.” He called for restraint in defense measures. When something is disproportionate, you see a tendency to dominate that goes beyond morality.”

Pope Francis has repeatedly called for an end to violence in several conflicts, though he rarely points fingers at one side or the other. In the last few weeks, however, he has been vocal about military action taken by Israel in its nearly year-long war against Hamas, urging the global community to come to an end and stop further escalation.

Only last week did the pope describe Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon as “unacceptable,” appealing for urgent international intervention to halt the violence. Earlier, he had appealed on September 28 at a press conference over the killing of Palestinian children in Gaza and had reiterated his appeal for a ceasefire.

On Sunday, the pope said that he said his prayer every day for a Catholic parish in Gaza; he talked to them daily to hear their accounts of the deplorable state that has been witnessed there. He narrated the people’s plight and said they endure hardships as they struggle to carry on their daily activities.

Pope Francis’s apostolic comments still remind the world of the Vatican’s stand regarding peace, proportionality, and respect for human dignity in the face of war. The repeated calls for restraint reflect the broader Catholic commitment to humanitarian principles, even in violent international disputes.

At such times when tensions and violence are high within that area where the conflicts have regularly intensified with devastating consequences for civilians, these statements by the pope are intended to stress the need for morality in war. He also places importance on dialogue and diplomatic solutions to immediately end the strike.

After all, he is the pope of over 1.4 billion Catholics worldwide. He hopes to energize public opinion against a force that runs amok and pleads to preserve innocent lives. He asks local and global leadership to focus on peace-building and humanitarian efforts instead of military exercises to find long-lasting solutions achievable through mercy and mutual understanding, not military might alone.