Pope Leo 'deeply concerned' about US war in Middle East: 'Assume the moral responsibility'

Early Saturday morning, February 28, Europeans woke up to the news that U.S. President Donald Trump had launched missile strikes against Iran. Ayatollah Ali Hosseini Khamenei, the Shiite fundamentalist who had been leading Iran since 1989, was killed — and the Middle Eastern conflict escalated when Iranian missiles aimed at U.S. military installations in Qatar, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and other Middle Eastern countries were intercepted.

The following day, European Union (EU) nations called for "maximum restraint" in the conflict, and Pope Leo XIV spoke out as well during a March 1 speech in Rome.

Speaking in Italian in the city's Quarticciolo neighborhood, the Catholic Church's first American pope addressed a variety of crises — from drugs to the Iran conflict — and told the crowd, "I'm deeply concerned, and we don't know how many days it will last, about the situation in the Middle East. War again! And we must be heralds of Jesus' peace, which God desires for everyone. We must pray much for peace, live in unity, and reject the temptation to harm others. Violence is never the right choice.”

Chicago native Leo, who speaks Italian, Spanish, French and Portuguese proficiently, also said of Iran, "I'm deeply concerned, and we don't know how many days it will last, about the situation in the Middle East."

Leo warned that the conflict could become "a tragedy of epic proportions" and warned, "I address to the parties involved a heartfelt appeal to assume the moral responsibility to stop the spiral of violence before it becomes an irreparable abyss."

The pope addressed Italy's drug problems, urging the crowd in Rome, "Always reject what harms your health. Say yes to what is good. Always no to drugs, yes to wellbeing."

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