Pope Leo XIV has spoken against the ongoing war between the United States and Israel against Iran by calling for an immediate end to the fighting. Calm can never be achieved through violence, the pope, himself an American citizen, has warned.
The pope gave his speech as part of the weekly Angelus prayer in St. Peter’s Square in the Vatican on Sunday, where he denied two weeks of “evil violence” persecuted by the people of the Middle East.
“I renew my closeness of prayer to all those who have lost their loved ones in the attacks, which have hit schools, hospitals and residential areas,” Leo said.
On the first day of the military campaign, a suspected US Tomahawk missile destroyed the Shajarah Tayyebeh girls’ school, killing at least 175 people, mostly children, in one of the deadliest incidents of the conflict.
The Pope called on all parties to the conflict to cease hostilities and reopen “Methods of conversation.” He also called the events in Lebanon “a cause for great concern.”
Israel has launched airstrikes against Lebanon in recent weeks in retaliation for rocket attacks on the Jewish state by Hezbollah. The militant movement was responding to the assassination of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in the attacks of the United States and Israel.
“Violence can never lead to the justice, stability and peace that people are waiting for,” Leo warned. During a visit to a Rome parish later Sunday, the pope also denounced the idea that conflicts can be resolved through war as “nonsense.”
US President Donald Trump reportedly rejected efforts by Washington’s allies in the Middle East to start talks with Tehran. “There will be no deal with Iran other than UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER.” the president wrote on Truth Social in early March.
Tehran, for its part, has maintained that there can be no peace until the United States withdraws its forces from the Middle East. Mohsen Rezaee, a member of Iran’s supreme leader’s advisory board, mentioned the US presence in the region. “the main cause of insecurity in the last 50 years.”
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