Okay, what he really said was “Never again war.” Same thing.
The reference is to the immortal episode of “The Simpsons” when Lisa heard her father singing along with a popular recording containing a gibberish chorus that is really “Join the Navy” backwards. “You gotta love that crazy chorus,” said Homer. “What does it mean?” asked Lisa. “Eh, it doesn’t mean anything,” he replied. “It’s like “ramalama-ding-dong,” or “give peace a chance.” I have referred to the exchange frequently on Ethics Alarms.
Why? Because empty virtue-signalling is unethical. It is dishonest, cynical and substitutes sentiment for substance. When the Pope said the equivalent of “Give peace a chance,” or “Make love, not war,” or “Let there be peace on earth” or “War is Hell” or FDR’s “I hate war!,” the assembled thousands cheered. It’s an applause line. If the Pope isn’t going to do better than applause lines, what good is he?
The only way to end wars is to end nations and religions, just as John Lennon said in his other fatuous hit, “Imagine.” The only way to do that, is to have a world dictator who is also, unlikely as it seems, benevolent….well, like a Pope! Brilliant!
Influential world figures admired and regarded as serious and thoughtful abuse their position by defaulting to such useless nostrums. They are supposed to make people wiser, not naive and confused. War will not go away, and the Pope knows that, unless he’s an idiot. He is not an idiot.
Raising false hopes and seeking popularity by seeming to advocate the impossible is not ethical behavior. It is the equivalent of a lie.
I officially award Pope Leo the second ever “Imagine” Award, unveiled here, which will be periodically bestowed upon the public figure, pundit , journalist or academic whose pronouncements most reflect virtue-signaling of the late John Lennon.
Ethics Alarms 
The phrase “Pax Romana” comes to mind. Within the Roman Empire, there was peace. All it took was #1: the indiscriminate slaughter of boy babies in Palestine shortly after the birth of Jesus, and #2: a general understanding that a man who hints at being “King of the <anyones>” should be murdered by the <anyones> before the Romans get organized to take care of the problem in their own way (see #1).
Or you might consider the biography of Salvadoran Bishop Oscar Romero, who took to the radio to exhort his countrymen to “Stop The Killing” of the civil war. If I can believe what I saw in the film about his life “Romero”, he didn’t propose any sort of project for addressing the root causes of the conflict. Personally, I think birth control could have helped reduce the exploitation of workers, if the country (as governed) didn’t have the natural resources to support the population.
Even in a world government there will be war. But it will be police against dissenters.
Isn’t it part of the Job Description of being Pope to signal virtue?
Advocating phony goals doesn’t signal virtue to anyone serious, experienced, or wise. To me it signals a desire to manipulate and mislead. Signaling genuine virtue—yes.
I think “Shut up and save souls” might be appropriate when popes get out of their lane, which seems to be where they spend all their time these days.
On a related war virtue signaling note: what is it with all the aged Baby Boomers in our neighborhood (a well to do golf resort) keeping wooden Ukraine signs displayed on their gates and doors as if they’re rooting for their college football team? These are people who in college doubtless said, “Make love, not war.” Now, they’re all in on a major land war killing thousands of young guys. Is “I’m rooting for Ukraine to beat Russia” really a good look? And didn’t all these people nod their heads when Obama mocked Romney’s concern about Russia’s being a geopolitical threat? Didn’t they all vote for Hillary Clinton, the woman with the goofy “reset button” and the recipient of all sorts of dough from various Russian entities too numerous and varied to count? It tempts me to put a sign in our yard that just says, “THINK!”
I’ve also considered putting a painted wooden Russia flag on our house.
This is so trivial I feel guilty posting about it, but as a former Simpsons fan (i’ve missed about everything since the late 90s) who started singing it in it’s head, it’s a reversal of “Join the Navy”, not “In the Navy”. Yvan Eht Nioj.
More than 25 years since I heard it, and I still have that ear worm stuck in my head.
Ugh. I’ll fix it. We try to be accurate here, as little as it seems like it.