Pope Francis criticized the use of the name “mother” to describe the massive Air Force-designed bomb the U.S. military dropped on the Islamic State in Afghanistan in April.
“I was ashamed when I heard the name,” Pope Francis said in a speech to a large group of students Saturday, Reuters reports. “A mother gives life and this one gives death, and we call this device a mother. What is happening?”
Briefings and coverage made frequent use of the name of “mother,” as in the “Mother Of All Bombs,” to describe the GBU-43 Massive Ordnance Air Blast (MOAB), which hit a crucial ISIS stronghold in Afghanistan on April 13.
In the aftermath of the U.S. Air Force’s MOAB strike on ISIS, Afghan officials said that about 94 ISIS fighters had been killed.
This April 13 strike was the first time the U.S. Air Force had employed the bomb in combat.
Army Gen. Raymond Thomas, head of U.S. Special Operations Command, told Congress last week that dropping the MOAB on ISIS was the right decision to make.
“I think it was the right employment of a weapon system … to avoid the more extensive loss of life,” Thomas said during testimony before the Senate Committee on Armed Services.
While technically head of U.S. forces in Afghanistan Army Gen. John Nicholson had made the decision to drop the bomb, President Donald Trump said following the strike he had given the military authorization to use such firepower.
“So, and, what I do is I authorize my military,” Trump said in April. “We have the greatest military in the world, and they have done the job, as usual. We have given them total authorization, and that’s what they’re doing, and frankly, that’s why they’ve been so successful lately. Take a look at what’s happened over the last eight weeks and compare it with the last eight years.”
Pope Francis will meet with Trump on May 24.
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