Pope Leo XIV tonight called on the citizens of all countries involved in the expanding war in the Middle East to call their political leaders and tell them to reject this “unacceptable” war and return to dialogue and peace, as he equally underlined that “attacks on civilian infrastructure are against international law.”
Reporters in Rome had asked the Pope on Tuesday evening about U.S. President Donald Trump’s threat to destroy “the whole Iranian civilization” tonight if Tehran does not capitulate to his demands. Speaking in Italian, he responded forcefully: “Today, as we all know, there has also been this threat against the entire people of Iran. And this is truly unacceptable! There are certainly issues of international law here, but even more, it is a moral question concerning the good of the people as a whole, in its entirety.”
He amplified that message with his call for people to act to secure peace, repeating this part in Italian and also in English. He called on “all people of goodwill … to reject war, especially a war which many people have said is an unjust war.” Not only is this war not resolving anything, he said, but now “we have a worldwide economic crisis, an energy crisis, and a situation in the Middle East of great instability, which is only provoking more hatred throughout the world.”
Once again Pope Leo urged: “Come back to the table. Let’s talk. Let’s look for solutions in a peaceful way.
“And let’s us remember especially the innocent: children, the elderly, the sick, so many people who have already become, or will become, victims of this continued warfare. To remind all that attacks on civilian infrastructure are against international law, and that they are also a sign of the hatred, the division, the destruction the human being is capable of….
“People want peace,” he insisted, and he urged all people to help secure it. He concluded: “I would invite the citizens of all the countries involved, to contact the authorities—political leaders, congressmen—to ask them, to tell them, to work for peace and to reject war always.”
