Times of Israel
In his strongest words yet, Pope Leo XIV on Saturday denounced the ‘delusion of omnipotence’ that he says is fueling the US-Israel war against Iran and demands that political leaders stop and ‘negotiate peace’.
Pope Leo presided over an evening prayer service in St. Peter’s Basilica on the same day the United States and Iran began face-to-face negotiations in Pakistan and as a fragile ceasefire holds.
History’s first US-born pope didn’t mention the United States or President Donald Trump in his prayer, which was planned before the talks were announced, but his tone and message appear directed at Trump and US officials, who have boasted of US military superiority and justified the war in religious terms.
‘Enough of the idolatry of self and money!’ Leo demanded. ‘Enough of the display of power! Enough of war!’