“Let diplomacy silence the guns!” Pope Leo XIV told the crowd in St. Peter’s Square after he recited the Angelus prayer on Sunday. Hours earlier, the Israel-Iran war escalated after the United States entered the war on Israel’s side by bombing three of Iran’s nuclear sites.
“Today more than ever, humanity cries out and invokes peace,” the pope said. “It is a cry for responsibility and reason, and it must not be drowned out by the roar of weapons and rhetorical words that incite conflict.”
“Every member of the international community has a moral responsibility: to stop the tragedy of war, before it becomes an irreparable abyss,” the pope said as alarm spread throughout the world following the actions by the United States.
Pope Leo said there is “a succession of alarming news from the Middle East, especially from Iran,” and “in this dramatic scenario, which includes Israel and Palestine, the daily suffering of the population risks falling into oblivion, especially in Gaza and in the other territories, where the urgency of adequate humanitarian support is becoming increasingly pressing.”
He noted that media coverage of the Israel-Iran war is eclipsing the ongoing tragedy of the 2.1 million Palestinians in Gaza and in the occupied Palestinian territories who are being deprived by Israel of humanitarian assistance and the basic necessities of life. (The United Nations General Assembly passed a resolution on June 12 demanding that Israel “immediately end the blockade in Gaza, open all border crossings and ensure that aid reaches the Palestinian civilian population throughout the Gaza Strip.” It passed with 149 votes in favor, 12 against and 19 abstentions. Among those voting against were the United States and Israel, joined by Argentina, Hungary and Paraguay.)
“There are no ‘distant’ conflicts when human dignity is at stake,” the pope said today.
“War does not solve problems. On the contrary it amplifies them and produces deep wounds in the history of peoples, which take generations to heal. No armed victory will be able to compensate for the pain of mothers, the fear of children, the stolen future,” he said.
He called on the world leaders to: “Let diplomacy silence the guns! May nations chart their future by works of peace, not by violence and bloody conflicts!”
Pope Leo made his call after the United States entered the Israel-Iran war by bombing three nuclear sites in Iran on early Sunday morning, marking a dangerous escalation in the 10-day war. The United States used “bunker buster” bombs to hit Fordo, the main uranium enrichment plant in a mountainside south of Tehran, and two other key nuclear sites, Natanz and Isfahan. The United States did so in “full coordination” with Israel, according to Israeli officials.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has been calling for action against Iran for some three decades, thanked President Trump and the United States.
Iran responded by sending a barrage of missiles on Tel Aviv, Haifa and Jerusalem, injuring about 90 people. The Iranian Foreign Minister, Abbas Araghchi, accused the United States of betraying diplomacy, breaking the U.N. Charter and international law, and said there would be serious consequences.
It was the pope’s fourth appeal for peace since Israel first attacked Iran on June 13. The following day, June 14, Leo appealed for “responsibility” and “reason,” and called on the international community to prevent the situation from developing into a wider war. “It is the duty of all countries to support the cause of peace, initiating paths of reconciliation and promoting solutions that guarantee security and dignity for all,” he said.
On June 18, at the end of the Wednesday public audience, Leo called on world leaders to reject the temptation to use “powerful and sophisticated weapons.”
“We must not get used to war,” the pope said, warning against the descent to “barbarism.” He made his appeal as President Trump seemed to indicate that the United States might enter the war on the side of Israel if Iran did not agree to an “unconditional surrender.”
He made his third “appeal for peace” in an interview on June 19 with TG1, the main news program of Italian state television, as Israel and Iran continued a war that risked becoming global if the United States joined it.
“I would like to renew this appeal for peace. We must try at all costs to avoid the use of weapons and seek dialogue through diplomatic means. Let us work together to find solutions,” the pope said.
“Many innocent people are dying, and we must always promote peace,” he said.
His words clearly fell on deaf ears, as the United States and Israel decided for the military option over diplomacy, claiming, as Mr. Netanyahu said, “first comes strength, then comes peace.” Mr. Netanyahu views a nuclear-armed Iran as an existential threat to Israel, though Israel is the only country in the Middle East known to possess nuclear weapons, which it is said to have first acquired in the late 1960s. According to the Arms Control Association, a nonprofit based in Washington, Israel is one of nine nuclear-armed states, along with the United States, Russia, France, China, the United Kingdom, Pakistan, India and North Korea.
