The Pope has increased his call for a ceasefire in Iran, addressing those responsible for the war

Rome — Pope Leo XIV on Sunday called for a ceasefire in the Middle East, in his strongest comments to date, directly addressing the leaders who started the war in Iran.

“On behalf of Christians in the Middle East and on behalf of all women and men of good will, I appeal to those responsible for this conflict,” Leo said. “Stop the reduction so that the channels of dialogue can open again. Violence will never lead to the justice, stability and peace that people are waiting for.”

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

US officials have said outdated intelligence may have led the United States to launch the strike and an investigation is ongoing.

The Vatican highlighted the carnage of the Minab strike by running an aerial photo of the digging of a mass grave 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 killed in the attack, which “hit schools, hospitals and residential centers”. He expressed particular concern about the impact of the war in Lebanon, where aid groups are warning of a humanitarian crisis.

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

In the two weeks since the start of the US-Israeli war, the Pope has limited his comments to muted pleas for diplomacy and dialogue in an apparent attempt to avoid casting himself as America’s political genius to President Donald Trump. He has not publicly named the US or Israel, but this is in keeping with the Vatican’s tradition of diplomatic neutrality.

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

“Do Christians who bear serious responsibility in armed conflicts have the humility and courage to make a serious examination of conscience and go to confession?” One might ask. He said.

But while Leo tried to keep his message indirect and apolitical to avoid igniting tensions, some of his US cardinals and the Vatican secretary of state did not.

Cardinal Robert McElroy, Archbishop of Washington, said the war was morally unjustifiable. Chicago Cardinal Blaise Cupich said it was “sickening” how the White House was parlaying video game imagery into its message of war on social media.

The Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, rejected Washington’s claims of a “preventive war”. But the Holy See is keeping dialogue open regardless, he said this week.

“The Holy See talks to everyone, and when necessary we talk to the Americans, the Israelis and show them what solutions we have,” he said.

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