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.
War and Peace
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The church’s just war tradition has been challenged by contemporary theologians as insufficient and outdated, yet it remains a worthy filter through which to judge the moral defensibility of a turn to war-making.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
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 inNews
Pope Leo XIV prays for leaders to ‘abandon projects of death’ in peace prayer video
“Lord, enlighten the leaders of the nations, so they may have the courage to abandon projects of death, halt the arms race, and place the lives of the most vulnerable at the center,” Pope Leo prayed.
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Cardinal Parolin on Iran war: ‘The force of law has been replaced by the law of force’
“Justice has given way to force; the force of law has been replaced by the law of force, with the conviction that peace can arise only after the enemy has been annihilated.”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 inEditorials
Against Unjust and Unjustified War with Iran
The Trump administration’s reasoning not only fails to meet the criteria for military action in any formulation of just war theory or international law, it also fails the test of common sense.
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 inVatican Dispatch
Pope Leo urges a halt to ‘spiral of violence’ across Iran and Middle East
Pope Leo prayed that “diplomacy may regain its role and promote the good of the peoples who yearn for a peaceful coexistence founded on justice.”