Pope Leo XIV says that “as a pastor” he cannot support the US-Israeli war with Iran but condemned the Iranian regime’s killing of protesters, News.Az reports, citing CNN.
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“As a pastor I cannot be in favor of war,” Leo told reporters flying with him from Malabo, Equatorial Guinea, a week after US President Donald Trump attacked the pontiff for his stance on the Middle East conflict.
“I would like to encourage all to make efforts to look for answers that come from a culture of peace and not from a place of hate and division.”
Leo said that the US and Israel’s bombing of Iran had created a “chaotic situation for the global economy” along with “a whole population in Iran, of innocent people, which is suffering because of this war.” Highlighting the human cost of conflict, the pope revealed that he carries a photo of a Lebanese Muslim boy, who had carried a sign welcoming the pontiff to the country at the end of last year, and who was killed in the war.
The pope, who alternated between English, Spanish and Italian when answering questions, also criticized the Iranian regime’s killing of protesters in his first remarks on the topic.
Asked if he condemned Tehran’s deadly crackdown on protests, Leo said, “I condemn all actions that are unjust, I condemn the taking of people’s lives, I condemn capital punishment, I believe that human life is to be respected.
“When a regime, when a country, takes decisions which take away the lives of people unjustly then obviously that is something that should be condemned.”
