“Let diplomacy silence the guns!” Pope Leo XIV told the crowd in St. Peter’s Square a few hours after the United States entered the Iran-Israel war by bombing three of Iran’s nuclear sites.

Pope Leo XIV called on world leaders to reject the temptation to use “powerful and sophisticated weapons,” as President Donald J. Trump aired the possibility of using massive bombs to destroy Iran’s Fordo nuclear fuel enrichment plant.

In judging the morality of an act of war, an easy ask is always: “Was the belligerent party left with no other recourse?” That does not appear to be true in this case.

With the Gaza death toll rising and entire families obliterated as Israeli forces seek to strike diminishing numbers of Hamas targets, more impassioned appeals for an end to the violence have come from ecclesial and political leaders from around the world.

The war in Gaza has become one in which “the heart-rending price is being paid by children, the elderly and the sick.” Israel, along with its allies, especially including the United States, must reckon that cost as well.

In processing the extent of the suffering, it is helpful to recall the foundational principle of our Catholic social teaching—that everyone possesses inherent dignity and the God-given right not just to survive, but to live well.