Pope Leo XIV and numerous Catholic voices this week raised prayers for peace in the wake of airstrikes beginning Saturday, Feb. 28 by armed forces of the United States and Israel on Iran, which launched counterstrikes in numerous areas of the Middle East.
The airstrikes by Israel on Iranian sites continued on Friday, March 6 and expanded into Beirut. Jesuit Refugee Service offered aid to hundreds of thousands of people displaced around Lebanon as they flee the conflict.
In his Sunday Angelus address in Rome, Pope Leo warned of an immense tragedy if violence escalates out of control. “Stability and peace are not built with mutual threats, nor with weapons, which sow destruction, pain, and death, but only through a reasonable, authentic, and responsible dialogue,” he said.
The pope offered his monthly prayer intention in March, inviting Catholics to pray with him for “disarmament and peace” and praying that “the nuclear threat may never again dictate the future of humanity.”
An organization of superiors of 1,900 women religious orders planned a global “moment of prayer” with fasting and “action for an unarmed and disarming peace” for Friday, March 6, to be livestreamed.
Prelates Warn of Suffering, Call for Return to Dialogue
Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin discussed in an interview the need for a diplomatic consensus to resolve the current conflict in the Middle East that relies on “multilateral bodies” like the United Nations. He said states that assert a right to “preventive war” risk setting the whole world “ablaze.”
Church officials in Kuwait, in northern Iraq and in northern Arabia prepared for suffering among Christians of the Middle East, praying for the intercession of Our Lady of Arabia.
Chicago Cardinal Blase Cupich sat down for an interview with Vatican Media in which he echoed Pope Leo’s call for a return by nations to settling disputes through the United Nations and other bodies to respect human rights and the sovereignty of nations.
He condemned the “use of weapons as a way by which we solve our difficulties,” which is leading to fears that the conflict in the Middle East “can get out of control very quickly.”
Prayers for Peace in Pakistan-Afghanistan Conflict
Tensions also have flared in a conflict between Pakistan and Afghanistan, in which Pope Leo also has called for renewed peaceful dialogue.
Meanwhile, Christians and Muslims in Pakistan have joined in prayers for peace.
Artificial Intelligence: Ethics and Threats
A seminar at the Vatican examined an ethics-based approach to the potential and challenges of artificial intelligence. Pope Leo, it was said, “appreciated and encouraged” the seminar and expressed hope for a “deeper awareness in this highly relevant and complex field.”
A London-based researcher spoke to Vatican News about the threats posed by AI, and the role of religion in safeguarding a positive future for humanity.
Final Reports Cite Two Aspects of Synodality
The Vatican released the first of two final reports regarding the universal Church’s synod.
The new report addresses how to live the Church’s mission within a culture increasingly shaped by digital communications. It also covers priestly formation that integrates principles of synodality.
The Church: Earthly Community, Spiritual Mystery
During his weekly General Audience, Pope Leo continued reflecting on the Second Vatican Council’s Dogmatic Constitution, “Lumen gentium.” He suggested there is no opposition between the human and divine dimensions of the Church, and said the Church is not some ideal apart but that of Christ throughout history.
“The Church is at the same time an earthly community and the mystical body of Christ, a visible assembly and a spiritual mystery, a reality present in history and a people journeying towards heaven,” he said.
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