Pope Leo XIV urged the United States and Iran to return to talks to end the war during a wide-ranging press conference on his way home from an Africa trip, speaking aboard the papal plane Thursday, according to Associated Press. The pope’s remarks came after what the report described as a highly public back-and-forth earlier in the trip between Leo and U.S. President Donald Trump over the conflict.
In remarks on the Iran war, Leo called for a new “culture of peace” to replace recourse to violence when conflicts arise. He said the issue was not whether the “Iran regime” should change but instead “how to promote the values we believe in without the deaths of so many innocents.” He also said he is a pastor and “cannot be in favor of war,” and he used that framing as he urged dialogue.
Leo said he condemned “all actions that are unjust,” including capital punishment, and tied his position to a broader view of human life. He said: “I condemn the taking of people’s lives. I condemn capital punishment,” and argued that human life should be respected and protected “from conception to natural (death).” Asked specifically about executions, the pope said that when a government takes decisions that take away the lives of others “unjustly,” it “should be condemned,” the report said.
The pope also described carrying personal testimony tied to the conflict, telling reporters he brought with him a photo of a Muslim Lebanese boy who was killed in Israel’s war with Hezbollah. The boy, the report said, was photographed holding a sign welcoming the pope when Leo visited Lebanon last year. Leo said he was “as a pastor” encouraging “everyone to find responses that come from a culture of peace and not hatred and division,” according to the Associated Press report.
On immigration, Leo affirmed that states can control their borders but said uncontrolled migration can create situations that are sometimes more unjust “in the place where they arrive than from where they left.” He said: “I personally believe that a state has the right to impose rules for its frontiers,” while also asking what wealthier countries are doing to change conditions in poorer countries so people are not compelled to leave. He added that migrants are human beings who should be treated with dignity and not be treated “worse than house pets, animals.”
Leo was also asked about steps being discussed in Germany regarding blessings for same-sex couples. The Associated Press report said Cardinal Reinhard Marx’s invitation prompted guidelines for priests and pastoral workers in Munich’s archdiocese, formalizing and ritualizing blessings of same-sex couples, and that the guidelines were approved last year by a German church governing body that includes the German bishops’ conference and a Catholic lay group working to expand lay influence in church decision-making.
The Vatican allowed such blessings in 2023, Leo said, but not in a formalized or ritualized way, Associated Press reported. In that context, he said the Holy See made clear to German bishops that “we do not agree with the formalized blessing” of gay couples or couples in other “irregular situations.” The report said the 2023 Vatican declaration—published with limited consultation outside the Vatican—sharply divided the church, with African bishops delivering a continent-wide dissent and refusing to implement it, and that homosexual activity is criminalized in several African countries.
When asked how he would keep the church unified over that divisive issue, Leo told reporters the question should not center on sexual morality disputes. “I think it’s very important to understand that the unity or division of the church should not revolve around sexual matters,” he said. He added that people tend to assume that when the church talks about morality, “the only issue of morality is sexual,” but he argued that “there are much greater and more important issues such as justice, equality, freedom of men and women, freedom of religion” that should take priority, the report said.
The Associated Press report also said the pope, the first U.S. pope in history, appeared to be attentive to how his Africa trip had been covered and interpreted. It described Leo’s approach to political remarks to leaders as largely diplomatic, using encouragement and subtle messaging rather than headline-grabbing condemnations, and it said he emphasized that he visited Algeria, Cameroon, Angola and Equatorial Guinea primarily as a pastor to accompany his flock. Leo also suggested that the Holy See can accomplish more behind the scenes through diplomatic work, including by helping to secure releases of political prisoners, than through “great proclamations criticizing, judging or condemning,” according to the report.