Overview
- The pope, preaching to tens of thousands in St. Peter’s Square on Sunday, declared that Jesus cannot be used to justify war and that God rejects the prayers of leaders who wage it.
- His message was widely read as an implicit rebuke of U.S. officials using Christian language to back the U.S.–Israeli campaign in Iran, including Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s recent prayer for “overwhelming violence of action.”
- Leo renewed his demand for an immediate ceasefire and has argued that airstrikes are indiscriminate, saying airplanes should carry peace rather than threats from the sky.
- He prayed for Christians in the Middle East who struggle to observe Holy Week under bombardment and for maritime workers killed in the fighting, with rights groups reporting at least seven merchant seafarers dead since February 28.
- The Palm Sunday remarks capped days of stepped-up appeals, following Saturday’s visit to Monaco where he urged people not to grow used to the “clamor of weapons,” marking a shift from pastoral pleas to pointed moral criticism of the widening war.