For at least the fourth time in the past week, Pope Leo XIV on Sunday reiterated his call for peace in the Middle East, warning that U.S. and Israel-led strikes in Iran could escalate into a wider regional conflict.
“From Iran and from the whole Middle East,” the pontiff said in his March 8 Angelus address, “news continues to reach us that gives rise to profound consternation.”
He expressed concern over the ongoing violence and its broader implications, saying, “In addition to the episodes of violence and devastation as well as the widespread climate of hatred and fear, there is also the concern that the conflict will spread and that other countries in the region, including beloved Lebanon, may again sink back into instability.”
Leo’s appeal follows the outbreak of what many are calling a new war on Feb. 28, when the United States and Israel carried out military strikes in Iran, killing top military officials and numerous civilians. Current estimates place the death toll in Iran at around 1,230.
At the same time, Israel has targeted Hezbollah positions in Lebanon.
The hostilities escalated after Hezbollah launched an attack on Israel on March 2, prompting a series of retaliatory strikes.
The renewed fighting ended a ceasefire that had been in place since a brief conflict last year, raising fears that the confrontation could expand into a regional war.
Last Sunday, Leo appealed for an end to the “spiral of violence” in the Middle East. In remarks to journalists while leaving his vacation residence in Castel Gandolfo on Tuesday of last week, he again urged the cessation of hostilities.
In a message to the International Encounter for Peace at Loyola University in Chicago on Saturday, the pope highlighted that peace “is not just the absence of conflict, but is a continual journey with God toward reconciliation.”
He emphasized the need for different religious traditions to unite in prayer, as he did during recent visits to Turkey and Lebanon, insisting that a world without conflict “is not unattainable.”
During Sunday’s Angelus, the pontiff called on Christians to pray “that the roar of the bombs will cease, that weapons will be cast aside, and spaces of dialogue will open in which the voices of the voice of the people can be heard.”
“I entrust this plea to Mary queen of peace. May she intercede for those who suffer due to war and accompany hearts along the path of reconciliation and hope,” he added.
