Pope Leo today praised the heroic action of the Rev. Pierre al-Rahi, the Maronite Catholic priest who was killed in southern Lebanon by Israeli tank fire last Monday as the priest rushed to help parishioners wounded by an earlier bombing from the same military forces. Leo hailed him as “a true shepherd, who always stayed beside his people, with the love and sacrifice of Jesus the Good Shepherd.”

He spoke about Father al-Rahi at the general audience in St. Peter’s Square this Wednesday morning, March 11, and told thousands of pilgrims, “Today in Qlayaa, Lebanon, the funeral of Father Pierre al-Rahi, Maronite parish priest of one of the Christian villages in southern Lebanon, is being celebrated.” 

The Maronite Catholic Church is an Eastern Catholic church with ancient roots in Syria and Lebanon. It is in full communion with the pope.

He explained that “In Arabic, ‘al-Rahi’ means ‘the shepherd,’” and said, “As soon as he heard that some parishioners had been wounded in a bombing, he rushed to help them without hesitation.”

“May the Lord grant that the blood he shed be a seed of peace for beloved Lebanon,” the pope said.

“These villages [in southern Lebanon] are once again experiencing the tragedy of war,” the Augustinian pope said; tens of thousands of people—many of them Christians—in the region are once again coming under bombing and gunfire and have been ordered by Israel to abandon their homes and land. Israel is seeking to take control of the area and create a northern buffer zone to prevent Hezbollah, the Lebanese armed group supported by Iran, from attacking Israel as it has done in the past. Hezbollah resumed its attacks on Israel when the war in Iran started.

“I am close to all the Lebanese people at this time of grave trial,” the pope, who had visited the country last November and December, said.

He again appealed to those attending the audience and Catholics worldwide to pray for peace in the region. “Dear brothers and sisters, let us continue to pray for peace in Iran and throughout the Middle East, especially for the many civilian victims, including many innocent children.” According to Iran’s Ministry of Health and other sources, more than 200 children have been killed in that nation so far. This includes more than 150 girls at an elementary school killed on the first day of the war, allegedly as a result of an American strike.

“May our prayer be a comfort to those who suffer and a seed of hope for the future,” the pope said. 

His words today echoed what he said Monday evening, March 9, after learning of the killing of Father al-Rahi. He then expressed “deep sorrow” for “all the victims of the recent bombings in the Middle East, for the many innocent people, including many children, and for those who came to their aid, such as Father Pierre al-Rahi.” 

The Vatican reported that the Maronite priest was killed “during an attack that struck a house in his parish in the mountains, injuring one of his parishioners. Father Pierre rushed with dozens of other young people to help the parishioners, and at that moment there was another bombing on the same house and the parish priest was wounded. He was taken to a local hospital, but did not survive.”

The Red Crescent and other sources report that the overwhelming number of deaths in the region—now more than 1,255 in Iran after 10 days of war—were caused by the attacks first launched by Israel and the United States against Iran, while a small number of deaths have resulted from the wide-ranging missile and drone strikes by Iran against Israel and American bases in neighboring countries, especially in the Gulf States. According to the Pentagon, 140 American service members have been injured, and eight are dead. 

Vatican Media today reported that Lebanon “has appealed to the Holy See for help in order to preserve the presence of Christians in the south of the country.” It said that since the conflict started again in the Middle East, “Christians near the border with Israel have endured relentless bombardments and evacuation orders, triggering a massive humanitarian crisis.” 

Vatican Media also reports that Youssef Raggi, Lebanon’s minister of foreign affairs, spoke by phone with Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, the Vatican’s secretary for relations with states and international organizations, on Tuesday, March 10. 

In a post on X, Mr. Raggi said he and the archbishop exchanged “views on the latest developments in Lebanon and on the difficult situation facing the border villages in the south. Mr. Raggi said he also “asked the Holy See to intervene and mediate to help preserve the Christian presence in those villages, whose residents have always supported the Lebanese state and its official military institutions, and have never departed from this commitment.” 

Mr. Raggi said Archbishop Gallagher affirmed that “the Holy See is making all the necessary diplomatic contacts to halt the escalation in Lebanon and to prevent the displacement of citizens from their lands.”

Cardinal Dominique Mathieu, the Belgian-born archbishop of Tehran-Isfahan, who was evacuated from Iran and arrived in Rome on March 8, was received in a private audience with Pope Leo today, March 11. In a brief statement sent to the Belgian Catholic news site Cathobel, Cardinal Mathieu said he arrived in Rome “not without regret and sorrow for our brothers and sisters in Iran.” His departure from Iran, he said, was “part of the complete evacuation of the Italian Embassy, which serves as the seat of the archdiocese.”

Gerard O’Connell is America’s senior Vatican correspondent and author of The Election of Pope Francis: An Inside Story of the Conclave That Changed History. He has been covering the Vatican since 1985.