Actually, he has not yet done this. He has said that the U.N. must stop it. He has not said they can do this through the use of force, much less actually violent military force. And he says that no one country can decide what needs to be done. He says it must be the U.N.
All of which means that his slumber may be ending, but he's still in that sleepy morning period when you can go in and out of dreams before full wakefulness.
I think he was hoping for the UN, possibly because he’s a 1970-80s type of guy, or possibly because he knows the US won’t act as long as Obama is president. I think he’s distanced himself from Bambi and perhaps he’s having a reality check.
He did say that this met the qualifications of a just war. We’ll see who takes him up on this. The Brits actually seem to be more alarmed than the US. The Spanish are also a little unnerved.
In any case, it must be very hard for the Pope to acknowledge this, so I give him credit for it.