ROME — Pope Leo XIV escalated his criticism of the war in Iran on Tuesday, declaring President Donald Trump’s threat to destroy “a whole civilization” unacceptable and suggesting Americans could contact their representatives in Congress to stop the conflict.
“Today, as we all know, there has also been this threat against the entire people of Iran,” he told reporters at Castel Gandolfo, the papal retreat outside Rome. “And this is truly unacceptable. 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.”
As has generally been has practice, Leo avoided mentioning Trump by name.
“I would like to invite everyone to think in their hearts of so many innocent children, so many totally innocent elderly people who would also be victims of this escalation,” he said. “I would like to invite everyone to pray, but also to seek ways to communicate. Perhaps with congressmen, with authorities, saying that we don’t want war, we want peace.”
Trump has demanded Iran reopen the strategically vital Strait of Hormuz by 8 p.m. Tuesday or the United States would destroy the country’s bridges and power plants.
Leo said attacks on civilian infrastructure are “a sign of the hatred, of the division, the destruction the human being is capable of.” The Chicago-born pontiff, the spiritual leader of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics, called the war “unjust” and insisted on dialogue to forestall further violence in a conflict that he said has already sparked worldwide economic and energy crises.
Earlier Tuesday, Trump warned of Iran’s impending destruction. “A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again,” he posted on social media. “I don’t want that to happen, but it probably will.”
Oklahoma City Archbishop Paul S. Coakley, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, decried Trump’s post more directly. “The threat of destroying a whole civilization and the intentional targeting of civilian infrastructure cannot be morally justified,” he said. “There are other ways to resolve conflict between peoples. I call on President 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.”
Leo has grown increasingly vocal in denouncing the use of violence in the Middle East and invocations of the name of God in pursuing war.
Trump said Monday that he believed God supports the United States in the war on Iran. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has asked God to bestow on U.S. troops fighting Iran “overwhelming violence of action against those who deserve no mercy.”
Such rhetoric has alarmed the Vatican.
“Let those who have weapons lay them down,” Leo declared Sunday in his Easter message. On Palm Sunday, a week earlier, he said God “does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war” and quoted Isaiah 1:15: “Even though you make many prayers, I will not listen — your hands are full of blood.”
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