Pope Leo XIV yesterday issued another fervent plea for peace in the Middle East and in all global hot-spots, urging leaders to open genuine spaces of dialogue amid the mounting human cost of the world’s conflicts. Source: Crux.
Speaking to those gathered in a drizzly St Peter’s Square for his Sunday Angelus address, the Pope said he continued “to follow with dismay the situation in the Middle East as well as other regions of the world lacerated by war and violence.”
“We cannot remain silent before the suffering of so many people, helpless victims of these conflicts,” he said.
War “wounds all of humanity,” he said, saying the death and violence caused by global conflicts “are a scandal for the entire human family, and a cry to the presence of God.”
“I firmly renew my appeal to persevere in prayer so that hostilities cease and that paths of peace finally open, founded on sincere dialogue and in full respect of the dignity of every human person,” he said.
The Pope’s appeal comes amid the ongoing US-Israel led war in Iran as leaders spar over conditions for a potential ceasefire. Meanwhile, fighting in Lebanon has increased as the entire region is pulled deeper into violent conflict.
In a recent webinar address for the International Oasis Foundation, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, condemned the war in the Middle East as immoral and unjustified.
“War is first and foremost political and has very material interests,” he said, and condemned the use of “pseudo-religious language, which speaks not of God, but of ourselves” to justify it.
The remark was in reference to recent comments from US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, who during a briefing quoted Psalm 144 to invoke a divine blessing on the ongoing campaign against Iran.
“The abuse and manipulation of God’s name to justify this and any other war is the gravest sin we can commit at this time,” Cardinal Pizzaballa said, saying, “as believers … we need to say that no, there are no new crusades.”
“If God is present in this war, he is among those who are dying, who are suffering, who are in pain, who are oppressed in various ways, throughout the Middle East,” he said.
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Pope calls for peace, says Christians cannot remain silent’ before war (By Elise Ann Allen, Crux)
