Pope Leo has pleaded with the press to stop showing wartime propaganda.
The head of the Catholic Church spoke on Italian TV station TG2, where he urged journalists “to show the face of war and tell it through the eyes of the victims, so as not to turn it into a video game.”
It comes after the first U.S.-born pontiff on Sunday slammed the war in the Middle East, which has raged since Feb. 28, as “atrocious violence.”
He did not name a specific conflict in Monday’s address, but said, “In the dramatic circumstances of war, such as those we are experiencing, information must guard against the risk of turning into propaganda.”
He added that journalists must be diligent “in verifying the news so as not to become a megaphone of power."
Government social media accounts have regularly spliced together footage of U.S. strikes with clips from video games since the war began.
Meanwhile, the Trump administration has attacked major outlets such as CNN for its coverage of the fighting. Among the insults aimed at the network, it has claimed that reporting on U.S. deaths was designed to make Trump look bad.
Relations have become so frayed that, on Friday, Defense Secretary Hegseth said he was looking forward to the day that a Trumpy billionaire bought it.
“The sooner David Ellison takes over that network, the better,” he told reporters in the Pentagon.
Trump ally Ellison’s Paramount is in the running to take over Warner Bros. Discovery, which owns CNN. Ellison’s Skydance acquired Paramount, which owns CBS, last year.
But speaking to CNBC two weeks ago, Ellison said that CNN had “an incredible brand with an incredible team,” The New York Times reports.
“Editorial independence will absolutely be maintained,” he added. “It is maintained at CBS; it will be maintained at CNN.”
In another shocking incident, Hegseth blasted the press for covering the deaths of U.S. service members.
“When a few drones get through or tragic things happen, it’s front page news,” Hegseth said earlier this month. “I get it. The press only wants to make the president look bad.”
Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr, meanwhile, has said he plans to review license renewal applications for some networks, The Hill reports.
The prospect is notable given the FCC has not blocked a renewal application in decades, raising potential First Amendment concerns.
In an X post on Saturday, Carr said, “Broadcasters that are running hoaxes and news distortions—also known as the fake news—have a chance now to correct course before their license renewals come up.
“The law is clear. Broadcasters must operate in the public interest, and they will lose their licenses if they do not.”
Trump praised the news on Truth Social, saying, “I am so thrilled to see Brendan Carr, the Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, looking at the licenses of some of these Corrupt and Highly Unpatriotic ‘News’ Organizations.”
He added, “They get Billions of Dollars of FREE American Airwaves, and use it to perpetuate LIES, both in News and almost all of their Shows, including the Late Night Morons, who get gigantic Salaries for horrible Ratings, and never get, as I used to say in The Apprentice, ‘FIRED.’”
Speaking out against the war on Sunday, Pope Leo said, “For two weeks, the peoples of the Middle East have been suffering the atrocious violence of war."
“In the name of Christians in the Middle East and of all women and men of good will, I appeal to those responsible for this conflict: Cease fire!” the pope, according to Reuters.
The Daily Beast has contacted the White House for comment.
