Pope Leo Responds to U.S.–Israel Strikes on Iran
By Michael Haynes
Warning about the risk of an “irreparable chasm,” the Pope has issued an urgent call for peace and the return to “diplomacy” in the Middle East, following US and Israeli joint strikes on Iran which awakened a hot conflict in the region once again.
As anticipated, Pope Leo XIV used his Sunday Angelus address to deliver his public thoughts on the current conflict being waged between Israel and the U.S. against Iran.
“I am following with deep concern what is happening in the Middle East and in Iran during this tumultuous time,” he said. “Stability and peace are not achieved through mutual threats, nor through the use of weapons, which sow destruction, suffering, and death, but only through reasonable, sincere, and responsible dialogue.”
Early Saturday morning, a joint military operation between American and Israeli forces in “Operation Epic Fury” saw missile strikes against Iranian military and personnel targets in Iran.
The White House has described it as “a precise, overwhelming military campaign to eliminate the imminent nuclear threat posed by the Iranian regime, destroy its ballistic missile arsenal, degrade its proxy terror networks, and cripple its naval forces.”
In a video statement published on social media, President Trump stated that “our objective is to defend the American people by eliminating imminent threats from the Iranian regime, a vicious group of very hard, terrible people. Its menacing activities directly endanger the United States, our troops, our bases overseas, and our allies throughout the world.”