Pope Leo XIV reiterated his “urbi et orbi” message from Easter, asking all people of goodwill to search always for peace and not violence, in a tacit rebuke of President Donald Trump’s threat that a “whole civilization will die tonight” if Iran does not make a deal by 8 p.m. on April 7.
Speaking to journalists at Castel Gandolfo April 7, and without naming Trump, Pope Leo said, he wanted to remind all involved that “attacks on civilian infrastructure is against international law.” Such attacks, he added, are a sign of “the hatred, the division and the destruction that the human being is capable of.”
“And we all want to work for peace, people want peace,” Pope Leo said. “I would invite the citizens of all the countries involved to contact the authorities, political leaders, congressmen, to ask them, tell them to work for peace and to reject war.”
Earlier April 7, in a post on his social media website, Truth Social, Trump said, “A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again. I don’t want that to happen, but it probably will.”
Trump made similar comments at an April 6 press briefing at the White House, vowing to destroy Iran’s civilian power plants and bridges if the regime did not strike a deal. He told journalists, “The entire country can be taken out in one night, and that night might be tomorrow night.”
Archbishop Paul S. Coakley of Oklahoma City, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, also rebuked the president and urged him to find another course of action.
“The threat of destroying a whole civilization and the intentional targeting of civilian infrastructure cannot be morally justified,” he said.
“I call on President Trump to step back from the precipice of war and negotiate a just settlement for the sake of peace and before more lives are lost,” the USCCB president added.
The U.S. and Israel carried out combat operations in Iran beginning Feb. 28 that killed Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and other key Iranian political and military officials in the war’s first days. Estimates vary regarding casualties in the U.S.-Israeli war, with some positing as many as 3,500 people killed across the Middle East thus far.
Trump has argued the Iranian regime presented grave nuclear threats, pointing to “the specter of nuclear blackmail” in an April 1 address about the conflict from the White House.
In response to the attacks, Iran effectively shut down the Strait of Hormuz, a key oil trade route, by striking ships there. The closure of the strait has led to a significant spike in energy costs.
Iran’s envoy to the United Nations, Amir-Saeid Iravani, called Trump’s words “incitement to war crimes and potentially genocide,” and said Iran will carry out “immediate and proportionate reciprocal measures” if Trump follows through on his rhetoric.
Polls conducted throughout the first month of the conflict – dubbed Operation Epic Fury – show most U.S. adults are opposed to it, with energy costs one of the factors driving that opposition.
Pope Leo noted the Iran war, which “many people have said is an unjust war,” is continuing to escalate and failing to resolve anything.
“We have a worldwide economic crisis, energy crisis, and a situation in the Middle East of great instability, which is only provoking more hatred throughout the world,” he said.
“So come back to the table,” he said. “Let’s talk, let’s look for solutions in a peaceful way. And let’s remember, especially the innocent children, the elderly, the sick, so many people who have already become, or will become, victims of this continued warfare.”
