Pope Francis says that for all intents and purposes World War III has broken out. -Reuters.

Pope Francis at a war memorial in Italy. -Reuters.

Pope Francis says that the constant strife and warfare we are currently experiencing are the equivalent of World War III. -Reuters. The Pope has been very vocal in his disapproval of the violence in Ukraine, the Middle East and parts of Africa. The Pope also condemned "plotters of terrorism" but did not elaborate on who he meant. In a rare reversal, last month the Pope said war could be justified to prevent the genocide of Iraqi and Syrian Christians, and other religious minorities, committed by ISIS. The Pope gave today's comments at the largest war memorial and cemetery for Italy's dead from World War I. 

My Comment:

I first talked about the Pope's reaction to ISIS here. What's my take on his comments? If anything he is understating the case. The war against radical Islam is a global one and it has lasted for longer then both World War I and World War II combined. Yes, it's not a total war, as of yet, and yes it hasn't reached anywhere near the casualties the other two did, but in terms of geopolitical impact it's getting closer to matching them every day. 

As for the Pope himself, I'm glad he is pointing this out. He has a captive audience of hundreds of millions and bringing attention to the state of the world is a good thing for him to do for his followers. I say that as a non-Catholic. I don't agree with everything the Pope does, or even most, but in this case he's right. The world needs to wake up to what is really going on, and the more people that know it's a global war almost as bad as the two world wars the better.

EDIT: Credit where credit is due, i first saw the story here.