Leo sees hope in Middle East ceasefire after ‘unacceptable’ Trump threats

‘I would invite the citizens of all the countries involved to contact the authorities – political leaders, congressmen – to ask them, to tell them, to work for peace and to reject war and violence.’

Pope Leo welcomed the announcement of a ceasefire in the Middle East after describing American threats against Iran as “unacceptable”.

Speaking after his general audience in St Peter’s Square on Wednesday, the Pope said that after “these past few hours of great tension in the Middle East and throughout the world, I welcome with satisfaction and as a sign of deep hope the announcement of an immediate two-week ceasefire”.

The United States and Iran agreed the ceasefire and a deal to reopen the strait of Hormuz on Tuesday evening US Eastern Time, shortly before a deadline for renewed attacks set by President Donald Trump, following diplomatic intervention led by Pakistan.

“Only by returning to the negotiating table can we bring the war to an end,” Pope Leo said in his appeal to pilgrims. “I urge you to accompany this time of delicate diplomatic work with prayer, in the hope that a willingness to engage in dialogue may become the means to resolve other situations of conflict in the world.”

He repeated his invitation for all people to join a prayer vigil for peace on Saturday. By Wednesday evening, Iran had announced that it had again closed the strait of Hormuz in response to Israeli attacks on Lebanon.

Speaking in Castel Gandolfo the previous evening, Leo had condemned US threats to attack civilian infrastructure in Iran, hours after President Trump wrote on social media: “A whole civilisation will die tonight, never to be brought back.”

“Today, as we all know, there has also been this threat against the entire people of Iran. And this is truly unacceptable,” the Pope told reporters.

“There are certainly issues of international law here, but even more, it is a moral question concerning the good of the people as a whole, in its entirety.”

He referred to his message at the Urbi et Orbi blessing on Easter Sunday, “asking all people of goodwill to always search for peace and not violence, to reject war – especially a war which many people have said is unjust, which is continuing to escalate and which is not resolving anything”.

“Let’s remember, especially, the innocent: children, the elderly, the sick, so many people who have already become, or will become, victims of this continued warfare,” he said, repeating “that attacks on civilian infrastructure are against international law, and that they are also a sign of the hatred, division and destruction that the human being is capable of”.

“I would invite the citizens of all the countries involved to contact the authorities – political leaders, congressmen – to ask them, to tell them, to work for peace and to reject war and violence,” Leo said.

Archbishop Paul Coakley of Oklahoma City, the president of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, issued a statement on Tuesday evening calling on Trump “to step back from the precipice of war and negotiate a just settlement for the sake of peace and before more lives are lost”.

“The threat of destroying a whole civilization and the intentional targeting of civilian infrastructure cannot be morally justified. There are other ways to resolve conflict between peoples,” he said, urging clergy, laity and “all people yearning for true peace” to join the Pope’s prayer vigil on Saturday.

Last week Coakley’s predecessor as USCCB president said the war in Iran is likely not justified under the Church’s just war tradition.

“I would line myself up with Pope Leo, who has been urging for negotiation,” the Archbishop of the Military Services Timothy Broglio said on CBS News’ Face the Nation during a segment recorded on 2 April and broadcast on Easter Sunday.

In the interview with CBS News’ Ed O’Keefe, Broglio said he was concerned that the military action in Iran was “compensating for a threat” before the threat “is actually realised”.

“I realise also that you could say, well, with whom are you going to negotiate?” Broglio added. “And that, that is … a problem. But in the meantime, lives are being lost, both there and also among our troops. So it’s … a concern.”

Broglio also insisted that war “is always a last resort” but was reluctant to condemn US policy outright. “I’m not making a judgment about that because I really don’t know,” he said. “But I do think that it’s hard to cast this war – you know – as something that would be sponsored by the Lord.”

In response to questions about the rhetoric of US defence secretary Pete Hegseth, who has asked Americans to pray “every day, on bended knee” for victory “in the name of Jesus Christ”, Broglio said “it’s a little problematic in the sense” that Jesus preached peace.

However, he qualified his position: “They may have information that led them to think that that was the only choice they had.”

Broglio’s remarks were his latest public criticism of US foreign policy, following his remarks on 18 January to the BBC’s Sunday programme where he said that any US invasion of Greenland would probably be morally unjust.

In December, Broglio said that it would be wrong for US service members to follow an order to kill survivors of a boat attack in the Caribbean if the survivors posed no threat to those forces.

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