Archbishop Giovanni Ricchiuti urges excommunication for Catholics promoting war, denouncing Trump’s threats and urging true Christian peace.
Newsroom (10/04/2026 Gaudium Press ) In a striking moral intervention amid renewed global tension, Italian Archbishop Giovanni Ricchiuti, president of Pax Christi Italy, declared that any Catholic who promotes war “should be excommunicated.” Speaking to Avvenire, the daily newspaper owned by the Italian Episcopal Conference, Ricchiuti said the issue had already inspired “a theological reflection” within Pax Christi, the international Catholic movement dedicated to peace.
When asked whether this principle could extend to public figures such as former U.S. President Donald Trump, Ricchiuti’s response was emphatic. “A Catholic, if he promotes war—sells weapons, destroys, etc.—should be excommunicated,” he said. Although Trump himself is not Catholic, his administration has maintained close ties to Catholic constituencies through figures such as Vice President JD Vance. Trump, who was raised Presbyterian, described himself in 2020 as a “non-denominational Christian” and won the majority of the Catholic vote in the 2024 U.S. election—between 55% and 58% overall, and over 64% among weekly Mass-goers.
Ricchiuti’s comments come after Trump’s recent threat to “end an entire civilization” in Iran. The archbishop dismissed those words as “madness,” adding that “statements of this kind are unacceptable in both form and content.” He warned Americans of the danger Trump represents, urging Congress to “break the silence and vote for impeachment.”
Beyond the U.S. political sphere, Ricchiuti praised Pope Leo XIV’s call for peace, contrasting it sharply with Trump’s rhetoric. “Christians do not respond with blows, but with love for the truth of the Gospel,” he said. “The rest comes from the devil.” He deplored how contemporary political choices have become “accompanied by missiles,” lamenting the detachment of faith from moral responsibility.
Turning to the Vatican’s diplomatic mission, Ricchiuti advocated for “more prophecy and less diplomacy” when diplomatic caution leads to silence in the face of injustice. “The Church, as a community born from following Christ, cannot and must not remain silent on issues of grave concern to the people,” he argued, insisting that genuine peace must be rooted in justice, not convenience or commerce.
Ricchiuti also reflected on the forthcoming prayer vigil for peace called by Pope Leo XIV, urging Catholics to renew their belief in the transformative power of prayer. “We must return to being leaven,” he said, lamenting that “we remain a mass” caught in worldly complacency. “Prayer is a supplication, but it is also listening,” the archbishop explained. “Pax Christi, first and foremost, must listen to the Pope and the Church.”
Commenting on the fragile truce recently reached between Iran and the United States in the Strait of Hormuz, Ricchiuti cautioned against reducing peace to economic expedience. “Peace is necessary for everyone, not just for trade,” he said pointedly. “This seems to me to be just the peace of the oil workers.”
The archbishop’s message, delivered amid stark divisions over war and diplomacy, reinforces a resurgent call within the Catholic Church to reclaim prophetic courage. Ricchiuti’s words remind believers that peace is not merely an absence of conflict, but a moral response to injustice—a stance grounded deeply in faith rather than fear.
- Raju Hasmukh with files from ACI Digital
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