In President Trump’s feud with the pope, who is right? Is America’s war with Iran just?
The Daily Article
The Denison Forum
4.9 • 576 Ratings
🗓️ 17 April 2026
⏱️ 10 minutes
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Summary
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The feud between President Trump and Pope Leo XIV continued on Thursday, when the pope decried that “The world is being ravaged by a handful of tyrants,” in what many took to be a thinly veiled shot at the president. Even if at least parts of the pope’s critiques may be valid, that does not mean his statements were wise. There’s a lot more to Christian teaching than just the gospel, but it’s crucial that we keep a clear view of where we should draw that line. The gospel pertains to matters essential to salvation, and whether the war in Iran is just does not come anywhere close to clearing that bar. Unfortunately, the pope is far from the only person to have ever erred in that regard.
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Dr. Ryan Denison explored the criteria for how Christians have historically understood a war to be just in a recent article.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | You didn't expect it to shake you this much. Maybe it was the diagnosis. Maybe it was the funeral. |
| 0:09.0 | Maybe it was the prayer that went unanswered. You believe in God. You always have. |
| 0:14.0 | But lately, you find yourself wondering, why didn't he allow this? Why didn't he intervene? Can I really trust him? The world has answers. |
| 0:25.9 | Everything happens for a reason. Just have more faith. Don't ask questions. But none of those bring |
| 0:32.6 | peace because deep down, you don't need cliches. You need clarity. |
| 0:38.7 | You need truth strong enough to hold your questions. |
| 0:42.8 | That's why we re-released Dr. Jim Denison's new edition of Wrestling with God. |
| 0:48.8 | In this honest and personal book, |
| 0:51.5 | Jim tackles the hardest questions Christians can carry, but rarely say out |
| 0:56.0 | loud. Questions about suffering, about doubt, about prayer, about whether we can truly trust |
| 1:03.0 | the God we serve, not with shallow reassurance, but with biblical depth and thoughtful conviction. |
| 1:10.1 | Because wrestling with God is not the end of faith. |
| 1:13.7 | It's often where deeper trust begins. |
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| 1:33.8 | A link is in today's episode notes. |
| 1:36.6 | Get your copy today and learn to wrestle honestly and trust God more deeply. |
| 1:47.7 | Music and trust God more deeply. Good day and welcome to the Friday, April 17th, 2026 edition of Denison Forum's daily |
| 1:54.3 | article podcast. I'm Chris Elkins, narrating today's daily article, authored by our senior |
| 1:59.7 | editor for theology, Dr. Ryan Denison. |
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