Pope Leo XIV again called for a stop to “the thunderous sound of bombs” in Iran and the Middle East, for the guns to “fall silent” and for the opening of “a space for dialogue” to find a way out of this latest conflict in the region.
Middle East
Posted inThe Weekly Dispatch
A Catholic guide to understanding the war with Iran
The church’s just war tradition has been challenged by contemporary theologians as insufficient and outdated, yet it remains a worthy filter through which to judge the moral defensibility of a turn to war-making.
Posted inPodcasts
Why Pope Leo was ‘relatively restrained’ on Iran war
This week on “Inside the Vatican,” Gerard O’Connell explains why he saw Leo’s comments on Iran as relatively restrained compared to John Paul II’s at the beginning of the Iraq War.
Posted inPodcasts
Just or unjust? Catholics respond to the Iran war
This week on “Jesuitical,” Ashley sits down with America’s chief correspondent, Kevin Clarke, to discuss the widening conflict with Iran and whether the U.S. intervention in the conflict can be justified under just war theory.
Posted inOf Many Things
I regret supporting the Iraq War. We shouldn’t repeat our mistakes in Iran now.
With the benefit of hindsight, it is easy to see that the pope was far more clear-eyed than the politicians who opted for war in Iraq and the Catholic thinkers who helped provide the war’s putative justification.
Posted inInterviews
Cardinal Parolin on Iran war: ‘The force of law has been replaced by the law of force’
“Justice has given way to force; the force of law has been replaced by the law of force, with the conviction that peace can arise only after the enemy has been annihilated.”
Posted inNews
Lebanese archbishop: Innocents are ‘paying the price’ of Middle East war
As the scourge of war spreads across the Middle East, including Lebanon, the ones paying the ultimate price are the innocent men, women and children who want to live in peace, said Melkite Greek Catholic Archbishop Georges Iskandar of Tyre.
Posted inNews
Results of Iran war ‘may be worse’ than Iraq, Catholic law professor says
Mary Ellen O’Connell, a professor at Notre Dame Law School who specializes in international law and conflict resolution, argues that “February 28, 2026, will forever mark the day that the United States began a war on Iran that will be compared with the disastrous March 2003 invasion of Iraq.”
Posted inNews
Sorrow, shock for Catholics in Middle East as US and Israel strike Iran amid negotiations
Bishop Aldo Berardi, apostolic vicar of northern Arabia, issued a Feb. 28 statement on Facebook, urging the faithful “to remain calm, united in prayer, and attentive to the safety of everyone.”
Posted inShort Take
The flaws of Christian Zionism
Using biblical texts formulated millennia ago to justify the dispossession of the Palestinian people today is problematic for many reasons.