Pope Leo XIV on Sunday rejected any attempt to invoke God in order to justify warfare during a Palm Sunday Mass, as the war in Iran entered its second month.
Speaking to tens of thousands in St. Peter’s Square, the pontiff stressed that Jesus “is King of Peace” and must not be used to legitimize conflict. “Brothers and sisters, this is our God: Jesus, King of Peace, who rejects war, whom no one can use to justify war,” he said, adding a biblical rebuke: “Even though you make many prayers, I will not listen: your hands are full of blood.”
The first US-born pope did not name specific leaders, but has in recent weeks strengthened his criticism of the fighting in Iran, repeatedly calling for an immediate ceasefire. At the end of Mass he said he was praying for Christians in the Middle East who are “suffering the consequences of an atrocious conflict. In many cases, they cannot fully observe the rites of these holy days.”
On Monday, Leo condemned indiscriminate military airstrikes and said such attacks should be forbidden. “Airplanes should always be carriers of peace, never of war. No one should be afraid that threats of death and destruction might come from the sky,” he said, without directly naming the Iran conflict.
The pope’s remarks come amid contrasting rhetoric elsewhere: some US officials have used Christian language to defend the joint US-Israeli strikes on Iran that began on February 28. At a Pentagon religious service, US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth prayed for “overwhelming violence of action against those who deserve no mercy.”
Edited by: Rana Taha