Pope after US Iran attack, diplomacy must silence weapons
At the Angelus, Leo XIV commented on the "tragic backdrop" in the Middle East a few hours after Trump announced US action against Iran. Today “humanity cries out and calls for peace. This is a cry that requires responsibility and reason,” the pope said. "There are no 'distant' conflicts when human dignity is at stake," he added, urging the world not to forget the “daily suffering, especially in Gaza.”
Vatican City (AsiaNews) – This morning, after the Angelus, Pope Leo XIV reacted to the latest news, using strong words. “May diplomacy silence the weapons! May nations chart their futures with works of peace, not with violence and bloodstained conflicts!” he said, adding that the use of weapons represents a deterioration of dialogue, diplomacy, and peace, which is impossible “without true disarmament,” as Pope Francis said in his Easter message.
Pope Leo XIV talked about the "alarming news” from the Middle East as US President Donald Trump announced that the United States was intervening in Israel's offensive against Iran. “We have successfully completed our attack on the three nuclear sites in Iran, including Fordow, Natanz, and Esfahan,” the US leader wrote on Truth Social.
While the world is holding its breath, with US bases on maximum alert, Iranian missiles launched against Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, and the Pasdaran threatening “eternal consequences,” Leo said that, “Today more than ever, humanity cries out and calls for peace. This is a cry that requires responsibility and reason.”
The pontiff issued this appeal to “responsibility and reason” over a week ago, immediately after Israel’s attack on Iran overnight on 12-13 June. He reiterated it today, as the region’s stability teeters. This “cry” for peace “must not be drowned out by the din of weapons or the rhetoric that incites conflict.”
“Every member of the international community has a moral responsibility to stop the tragedy of war before it becomes an irreparable chasm. There are no ‘distant’ conflicts when human dignity is at stake,” he said in another plea from the window of the Apostolic Palace, his head bowed over his speech.
“War does not solve problems,” Leo said; instead, “it amplifies them and inflicts deep wounds on the history of peoples, which take generations to heal. No armed victory can compensate for the pain of mothers, the fear of children, or stolen futures.”
Against the “tragic backdrop” that is emerging in the Middle East, with the involvement of world powers, the pope noted that the region “includes Israel and Palestine,” where “people’s daily suffering, especially in Gaza and the other territories, where the need for adequate humanitarian aid is becoming increasingly urgent, risks being forgotten.”
Before the Marian prayer, Leo mentioned the solemnity of Corpus Christi, which is celebrated today in many countries, and commented today's Gospel, centred on the miracle of the loaves and fishes (Luke 9:11-17), which shows how even the "smallest" gifts of God "grow whenever they are shared.”
But, in the context of today's solemnity, this miracle leads to an "even deeper reality. For we know that at the root of every human sharing lies a greater sharing that precedes it, namely God’s sharing with us.” Thus, “Let us think of how wonderful it is when we give a gift — even a small one, proportionate to our means — and see that it is appreciated by the recipient,” the pope said.
This applies to the Eucharist as well. “God unites himself to us by joyfully accepting what we bring, and he invites us to unite ourselves to him by likewise joyfully receiving and sharing his gift of love.” Thus, citing Saint Augustine, “just as one loaf is made from single grains collected together… so in the same way the body of Christ is made one by the harmony of charity.”
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