Pope Leo XIV delivered a poignant message to U.S. President Donald Trump concerning the ongoing military tensions in the Middle East during a speech at the Vatican on Sunday.

The Pope expressed his deep concern over the situation, stating, “I am following with deep concern what is happening in the Middle East and in Iran during this tumultuous time.”

Highlighting the path to true peace, he emphasized, “Stability and peace are not achieved through mutual threats, nor through the use of weapons, which sow destruction, suffering, and death, but only through reasonable, sincere, and responsible dialogue.”

The Pope’s remarks came in the wake of President Trump’s declaration to retaliate against Iran with unprecedented force, following Iran’s vow for revenge after the death of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Notably, Pope Leo XIV holds the distinction of being the first American-born leader of the Catholic Church.

Additionally, he cautioned that continued escalation could lead to further large-scale bloodshed, urging for a de-escalation of tensions.

‘Faced with the possibility of a tragedy of enormous proportions,’ he added, ‘I address to the parties involved a heartfelt appeal to assume the moral responsibility to stop the spiral of violence before it becomes an irreparable abyss!’

Pope Leo also prayed for nations to revisit diplomatic solutions to securing peace.

‘May diplomacy recover its role and may the good of peoples be promoted, peoples who long for peaceful coexistence founded on justice,’ he noted, ‘And let us continue to pray for peace.’

Pope Leo XIV leads the Angelus prayer, the traditional Sunday prayer, from the window of his office overlooking Saint Peter’s Square, Vatican City,  March 1st, 2026

Pope Leo XIV expressed his concern over recent events in the Middle East and Iran and appealed the parties involved to assume the moral responsibility to stop the spiral of violence before it becomes an irreparable abyss on March 01, 2026 while giving the noon prayer

Massive explosions and air raid sirens have erupted over Tel Aviv as Iran launches surgical missile strike in retaliation to a joint Israeli-US strike on Iranian territory early Saturday morning. Sirens blared and large blasts echoed across the city

In an eight-minute speech, given from his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida on Saturday, the President said he had ordered a ‘major’ strike on Iran after nuclear negotiations between the two countries had broken down. 

Our objective is to defend the American people by eliminating imminent threats from the Iranian regime, a vicious group of very hard, terrible people,’ Trump said.

He, again, reiterated that the Iranian regime must never obtain a nuclear weapon.

While Trump’s military maneuvering so far in his second term – the January capture of Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro and the ‘Midnight Hammer’ attack on Iranian nuclear facilities in June – haven’t cost service members’ lives, he warned that Americans could die this time around.

‘Even so, and I do not make this statement lightly, the Iranian regime seeks to kill,’ Trump said. ‘The lives of courageous American heroes may be lost and we may have casualties.’

Iran’s former Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei

This map charts US and Israel’s strikes on Iranian targets in red and Iran’s retaliatory strikes in Israel, Qatar the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain in orange 

An explosion is seen off the coast of Haifa in northern Israel Saturday as Iran retaliated against a joint US-Israel operation that took place Saturday morning

‘That often happens in war,’ the commander-in-chief added. ‘But we’re doing this not for now, we’re doing this for the future and it is a noble mission.’

Trump called out the Iranian regime and their proxies for creating ‘mass terror’ around the world, but he also pointed to the Tehran’s recent mass murder domestically, of protesters in their own streets.

In mid-January, the President had promised those protesters that ‘help is on the way.’