POPE LEO XIV has issued an urgent appeal for an immediate ceasefire in Iran, expressing profound dismay over the escalating violence and warning that the conflict threatens to plunge the entire Middle East, particularly Lebanon, back into instability.
Speaking to an estimated 15,000 pilgrims gathered in St. Peter’s Square for the weekly Angelus prayer, the Pontiff described the news emanating from the region as deeply troubling.
“After praying the Angelus, the Pope’s thoughts turned to the Middle East, from which, he said, ‘news continues to arrive that causes deep dismay,’” the official report from Vatican News stated.
The Pope specifically condemned the “violence and devastation” and the “widespread climate of hatred and fear” gripping Iran and its neighbors amid the ongoing U.S.-Israeli military campaign.
His Holiness’ plea for peace comes as the conflict, now in its ninth day, shows no signs of abating. According to international news agencies, the war has already resulted in a significant loss of life, with reports indicating over 1,330 Iranian civilians killed, along with dozens of military personnel and U.S. service members. The violence has also spread beyond Iran’s borders, with recent strikes targeting facilities in Lebanon, Bahrain, and near Baghdad.
A Plea for Dialogue and the Fear for Lebanon
Pope Leo emphasised that his concern extends beyond the immediate theatre of war. He specifically voiced his fear that the hostilities could draw nearby nations into the vortex of violence.
“He also stressed his fear that the conflict might cause nearby countries, such as ‘beloved Lebanon’, to once again ‘sink into instability,'” the report from Vatican News noted. This warning is particularly poignant given Lebanon’s fragile economic and political situation and its proximity to the fighting, which has already seen Israeli strikes targeting areas in the south.
In an appeal to the faithful and to the international community, the Pope invited his listeners to join him in prayer. He implored for a spiritual intervention to halt the destruction, urging the crowd to pray “that ‘the roar of bombs might cease, that weapons might fall silent, and that a space for dialogue might open, in which the voice of the peoples may be heard’”.
Pope Leo entrusted his supplication to the Virgin Mary, invoking her under the title “Queen of Peace.” He asked her to “intercede for those who suffer because of war” and to “guide hearts along paths of reconciliation and hope”.
A Consistent Message of Peace
This is not the first time the Pope has sounded the alarm over the crisis. The Vatican News report recalled that during last Sunday’s Angelus, just as the conflict was erupting, Pope Leo XIV had expressed his “deep concern” over the situation.
He had then delivered a stark warning against the illusion that peace can be achieved through force. “Stability and peace are not built with mutual threats, nor with weapons, which sow destruction, pain, and death, but only through a reasonable, authentic, and responsible dialogue,” he said.
At the time, he cautioned that the world was “faced with the possibility of a tragedy of enormous proportions” and made a “heartfelt appeal to the parties involved to assume the moral responsibility to stop the spiral of violence before it becomes an irreparable abyss!”. He urged diplomacy to “recover its role” so that the “good of peoples be promoted, peoples who long for peaceful coexistence founded on justice”.
The Pope’s repeated calls for peace and dialogue underscore the Vatican’s deep concern over a humanitarian catastrophe and the potential for a broader regional war that could have devastating consequences.
