Pope Leo intensifies the call for a ceasefire in Iran with a message

ROME (AP) — Pope Leo XIV on Sunday called for a ceasefire in the Middle East in his strongest comments yet, addressing directly the leaders who launched the war in Iran.

“On behalf of the Christians of the Middle East and all women and men of good will, I appeal to those responsible for this conflict,” Leo said. “Cease fire so that avenues of dialogue can be reopened. Violence can never lead to the justice, stability and peace that the people are waiting for.”

Leo did not mention the United States or Israel by name in his comments at the end of his Sunday noon blessing. But the first American pope in history mentioned the attacks targeting a school, in apparent reference to the missile attack on an elementary school in Iran in the early days of the war that killed more than 165 people, many of them children.

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U.S. officials have said that outdated intelligence likely led the United States to launch the attack, and that an investigation is underway.

The Vatican has highlighted the carnage of the Minab attack, publishing an aerial photograph of the mass grave being dug for the young victims on the March 6 front page of its official newspaper, L’Osservatore Romano, under the headline “The Face of War.”

Leo said he was close to the families of those who had died in the attacks “which have affected schools, hospitals and residential centres”. He expressed particular concern about the impact of the war in Lebanon, where aid groups warn of a humanitarian crisis.

The plight of Christian communities in southern Lebanon is of particular concern to the Vatican, as they have long represented a stronghold for Christians throughout the Muslim-majority region.

In the two weeks since the start of the war between the United States and Israel, the Pope has limited his comments to quiet calls for diplomacy and dialogue in an apparent attempt to avoid presenting himself as an American political counterweight to President Donald Trump. He has not publicly named the United States or Israel, but that is also in keeping with the Vatican’s tradition of diplomatic neutrality.

On Friday, for example, in a speech to priests attending a class at the Vatican on the sacrament of confession, Leo said the sacrament was a workshop that restores unity and peace.

“One could ask: do Christians who have a serious responsibility in armed conflicts have the humility and courage to make a serious examination of conscience and confess?” said.

But while Leo has tried to keep his messages indirect and apolitical to avoid inflaming tensions, some of his American cardinals and the Vatican secretary of state have not.

Cardinal Robert McElroy, archbishop of Washington, said the war was morally unjustifiable. Chicago Cardinal Blase Cupich said it was “disgusting” how the White House was splicing video game images into its social media messages about the war.

Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin rejected Washington’s claim of a “preventive war.” But he said this week that the Holy See was keeping dialogue open.

“The Holy See talks to everyone, and when necessary we also talk to the Americans, to the Israelis, and we show them what the solutions are for us,” he stated.