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Pope Leo XIV said U.S. President Donald Trump’s threat to “destroy Iranian civilization” was “truly unacceptable,” calling any attacks on civilian infrastructure violations of international law, as the Vatican’s public appeals against the widening Iran war intensify. Speaking Tuesday as he left his country house in Castel Gandolfo, south of Rome, Leo said the threat was directed “against all the people of Iran” and repeated that it was “truly unacceptable.”
He urged Americans and other people of good will to contact political leaders and congressional representatives to press for rejecting war and pursuing peace. In comments delivered in English, the pope said people should be able “to ask them, tell them to work for peace and to reject war,” and he tied the message to the broader instability he said the region is experiencing.
Leo referred to Trump’s warning that a “whole civilization will die tonight” if Iran did not meet what he described as the latest deadline to strike a deal that includes reopening the Strait of Hormuz. He also recalled his Easter appeal for peace and against war, saying he referred to “a war which many people have said is an unjust war,” which he said was continuing to escalate and “is not resolving anything.”
The pope said he wanted people to remind political leaders that attacks on civilian infrastructure are “against international law.” He also described such attacks as part of the “hatred, the division, the destruction human beings are capable of,” and said people of good will “want to work for peace.”
Leo said the message to political leaders should include returning to negotiations—“Come back to the table, let’s talk, let’s look for solutions in a peaceful way”—and he singled out civilians he said could become victims, including “the innocent children, the elderly, sick.” He said he raised those reminders because he described existing conditions as part of a global crisis that includes economic and energy strains.
In recent weeks, Leo has increased the intensity of his opposition to the U.S.-Israeli war in Iran after issuing earlier, more muted appeals for peace and dialogue. The AP report said Leo had publicly named Trump for the first time last week when he said he hoped the president was “looking for an off-ramp,” a shift the report described as unusual given the Vatican’s traditional diplomatic neutrality and the rarity of popes naming political leaders or countries in critical terms.
The Vatican’s concerns have also extended to the conflict’s regional spread, including a renewed war in Lebanon between Israel and Hezbollah, described as Iranian-backed. The report said the Vatican fears for Christians in southern Lebanon, calling that community an important bulwark for the church in the region.
Earlier Tuesday, the Vatican released a special message from Leo to residents of Debel, Lebanon, after a convoy carrying over 40 tons of aid led by the Vatican was prevented from arriving alongside an Easter shipment. Lebanon’s Maronite Church said the delivery was canceled for “security reasons,” and the message expressed solidarity with what it called the “injustices” Christians in southern Lebanon endure, comparing their suffering to Christ’s.
“In your misfortune, in the injustice you endure, in the feeling of abandonment you experience, you are very close to Jesus,” the message read, according to the AP report, and it added that Leo said this closeness resonates for recipients as a “promise of the future” on Easter Day. The message was written in French and signed by the Vatican secretary of state, Cardinal Pietro Parolin.
Leo visited Lebanon late last year on his first international trip as pope.