Pope Leo XIV on Tuesday denounced any religious justification for wars raging around the world, saying “there is no such thing as a holy war.”

“Only peace is holy,” Leo said in a video-message to a gathering of religious leaders in the Italian hilltop town of Assisi .

The American pope was supposed to have presided over the gathering in person, but had to cancel his participation as he recovers from Oct. 13 lung cancer surgery.

Instead Leo sent a videotaped message that was broadcast to the delegates, who included the Archbishop of Canterbury Sarah Mullally , spiritual leader of the worldwide Anglican Communion, as well as Muslim, Buddhist and other Christian leaders.

They were in Assisi, the birthplace of the peace-loving St. Francis, to mark the 40th anniversary of a landmark interfaith peace meeting called by St. John Paul II.…