Peace talks in Pakistan collapse; Lebanon reports Israeli strikes despite ceasefire

Iranian state media reports that parents of students killed in a school bombing in February wrote a letter to the Pope thanking him for calling for peace and encouraging him to continue speaking on behalf of “voiceless” children.

Pope Leo XIV has publicly voiced calls for peace and clashed with Donald Trump; This put the president at odds with many American Catholics.

Iranian news agency IRNA reported that a letter will be sent to the pope from the families of the children who lost their lives in the attack on a school in Southern Iran. The New York Times had previously reported that the February bombing was likely the fault of the US military because the school building was close to a military target, according to preliminary internal reports.

According to IRNA, the letter said, “We are the fathers and mothers of innocent children who, instead of hugging our children’s warm bodies these days, press their burnt bags and bloody notebooks to our chests, and whose only crime is smiling in class.”

“When the terrible sound of explosions closes the world’s ears to our screams, the echo of your voice [the Pope] “Peaceful words became a balm to our endless wounds.”