The pope made his remarks at a weekly General Audience event, Vatican News relayed, and heavily referenced a warning by Pope Pius XII in 1939 that the “danger is imminent” of a massive war, but “there is still time.” Days later, World War II formally began in Europe, devastating much of the continent and ultimately ending the rule of imperial Japan.
Israel launched its military operation targeting Iran’s capital, Tehran, on Friday, in response to intelligence suggesting that Iran had enough fissile material to build multiple nuclear weapons. The attack followed months of frustrated negotiations between the United States and Iran pursuing an agreement to replace the failed Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the nuclear deal brokered by former President Barack Obama. Iranian officials repeatedly rejected calls to stop enriching uranium at a rapid pace incompatible with any known civilian use, demanding sanctions relief without correcting the behavior leading to the sanctions.
Hours before Israel launched “Operation Rising Lion,” the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) passed a resolution censuring Iran for the first time in almost two decades, condemning its enrichment programs and violations of international law controlling nuclear development.
In his remarks on Wednesday, Pope Leo emphasized opposition to the use of devastating modern weapons without naming nuclear weapons in particular.
“We must never become accustomed to war,” he advised, urging nations to “reject as a temptation the allure of powerful and sophisticated weapons,” including “scientific weapons of all kinds.”
“The powerful weapons used in modern wars threaten to lead us to a barbarism greater than that of the past,” the pope warned in comments shared on his social media accounts. “In the name of human dignity and international law, I repeat to those in positions of responsibility what Pope Francis used to say: ‘War is always a defeat!’ And with Pope Pius XII: ‘Nothing is lost with peace. Everything can be lost with war.’”
Pope Leo named the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine and the conflict between Israel and the Iran-backed jihadist terrorist organization Hamas in Gaza as also alarming Catholic leaders.
Vatican News noted that the reference to Pope Pius XII harkened to the days shortly before the eruption of World War II, when attempts to appease Nazi Germany by allowing it to conquer territory beyond its borders failed.
“It is by the force of reason, not the force of arms, that justice makes its way,” Pope Pius XII said in a radio message in August 1939, addressed primarily to European political leaders. “Empires not founded on justice are not blessed by God. Politics divorced from morality betrays those who promote it.”
“The danger is imminent, but there is still time. Nothing is lost with peace. All may be lost with war,” the pope warned at the time. “Let men return to mutual understanding. Let them resume negotiations. By negotiating with goodwill and respect for each other’s rights, they will find that sincere and effective agreements are always possible — and can lead to honorable success.”
Pope Leo’s warnings on Wednesday corresponded with an explicit rejection of peace from Iranian “supreme leader” Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, addressing his country for the first time since President Donald Trump announced that the U.S. military is aware of his location and could kill him at any time.
“The Iranian nation will firmly stand against an imposed war, just as it will resolutely resist an imposed peace,” Khamenei said in a speech to the Iranian public. “This is a nation that will never surrender to any form of imposition.”
Khamenei did not specify what form of un-imposed peace his regime would accept or list any demands needed to end his country’s ongoing bombing of civilian targets in Israel.
“Those with wisdom, who truly understand Iran, its people, and its long history, never speak to this nation with the language of threats. Iran will not yield,” he insisted, concluding with a threat to Washington: “any US military incursion will undoubtedly lead to irreversible consequences.”
Iran’s bombing of Israel has killed at least 24 civilians in the country at press time.
Outside of the Vatican, the U.S. Bishops’ Conference in America issued a call for peace this week to counter the “further proliferation of nuclear weapons in the Middle East.”
The bishops called for all actors possible “to exert every effort to renew multilateral diplomatic engagement for the attainment of a durable peace between Israel and Iran.”
“It is the duty of all countries to support the cause of peace by initiating paths of reconciliation and promoting solutions that guarantee security and dignity for all,” the statement added.
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