Pope Leo asks God to help leaders renounce war
In an unusual appeal, Pope Leo released a video praying for God to help world leaders abandon war as a means of resolving conflicts, as the US-Israeli bombing campaign against Iran continues for its sixth day.
“Lord, enlighten the leaders of the nations so that they may have the courage to abandon their project of death,” the pope said in his video message on Thursday.
“Today we raise our prayer for world peace, we want nations to give up weapons and choose the path of dialogue and diplomacy,” he said.
Each month, Leo posts a video message to announce his prayer intention for the month. The Pope’s intention in March is “in favor of disarmament and peace”.
It was unclear whether Thursday’s video was created specifically to respond to the U.S.-Israeli military action that has sparked a regional war with Iran’s attacks in Israel, the Gulf and Iraq and Israel’s attacks in Lebanon.
The Vatican did not immediately respond to a question about when the video was recorded.
The Vatican’s top diplomat warned on Wednesday that US-Israeli attacks undermine international law and delivered an unusually direct criticism of military action, saying nations did not have the right to wage “preventive wars”.
“If it is accepted that states have the right to ‘preventive war’… the whole world may risk going up in flames,” Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican’s secretary of state, said in an interview with Vatican News. he said.
In his video, the Pope asked God to help the world understand that “true security comes not from control fueled by fear, but from trust, justice and solidarity between peoples.”
