If you would recall, Leopold attempted to make peace with the theocracies after withdrawing from the federation. He did not want war, he wanted independence. The Church said no, and voted to excommunicate him and declared war. It wasn't like Leopold was like "Sup guys, we're not apart of you anymore, by the way our troops are looting you and we're besties with Asylon now."
Not true. The Elders never voted to excommunicate Leopold. Several people wanted to do so, but it was never done. The elders also offered Leopold a compromise that would have given him almost everything he wanted. He shot it down, accusing everyone of being corrupt, guaranteeing that the war started.
Leopold
wanted this war. It was going to happen no matter what course anyone took.
