Pope warns that God will ‘reject’ the prayers of leaders who ‘wage war’
Pope Leo said God rejects the prayers of war-starting leaders and they have “blood on their hands” to preachily condemn the Iran war.
President Donald Trump’s threat on Tuesday to destroy “an entire civilization” if Iran fails to meet a deadline to open the Strait of Hormuz drew an unusual rebuke from a Catholic church leader who called Trump’s comments “unacceptable.”
The response by Pope Leo XIV, who oversees the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics, was unusual, as popes rarely respond directly to world leaders. But in recent weeks, the American-born pope has increasingly voiced his disapproval of the ongoing U.S.-Israel war against Iran.
“As everyone knows, today there was such a threat against the entire Iranian people. This is truly unacceptable,” Pope Leo told journalists in front of his official residence in Castel Gandolfo, Italy, on Tuesday. “There is certainly an issue of international law here, but more than that, it is a moral issue for the benefit of[the world’s]peoples.”
The president’s harsh words were delivered in an expletive-laden post on Truth Social on Tuesday morning, in which he wrote, “An entire civilization will die tonight and will never rise again. I don’t want it to happen, but it probably will.”
President Trump’s shocking threat to destroy Iran’s infrastructure has sparked a bipartisan backlash not only from religious leaders but also in the United States. In Michigan, Islamic leaders denounced the president’s message as a “dangerous escalation that undermines both international stability and the moral fabric of public debate,” and Archbishop Paul Coakley, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, called on Trump to “step back from the precipice of war.”
“The threat of destroying entire civilizations and the deliberate targeting of civilian infrastructure is morally unjustifiable,” Coakley said. “There are other ways to resolve ethnic conflicts.”
In his remarks on April 7, the pope called President Trump’s threats to blow up bridges and power plants in Iran “contrary to international law” and called on Catholics around the world to speak out against political leaders and encourage them to find ways to quell growing regional conflicts.
“People want peace,” he said. “I encourage citizens of all concerned countries to contact authorities, including political leaders and members of parliament, to urge them to work for peace.”
Iranian Ambassador to the United Nations Amir Saeed Iravani said the threat “constitutes a war crime and potentially incitement to genocide,” adding that Iran would reject any agreement that does not result in a long-term end to the conflict. Iran has vowed to retaliate against the U.S. military escalation with attacks on the Gulf nation’s infrastructure.
As reported by Reuters.
