The Vatican on Thursday released a video of Pope Leo XIV praying for world leaders to seek peace and disarmament as the US-Israeli war against Iran continues to escalate and spread across the region.
“Today we lift up our prayer for peace in the world, asking that nations renounce weapons and choose the path of dialogue and diplomacy,” the US-born pontiff said in the video. “Lord, enlighten the leaders of the nations, so they may have the courage to abandon projects of death, halt the arms race, and place the lives of the most vulnerable at the center.”
Leo prayed for the “nuclear threat” to “never again dictate the future of humanity” and asked the Holy Spirit to “make us faithful and creative builders of daily peace: in our hearts, our families, our communities, and our cities.”
The pope releases a monthly video message announcing his prayer intentions so Catholics worldwide can join him, an initiative called “Pray with the Pope.” For March, his intention is to pray for “disarmament and peace.”
Since the US and Israel launched the war on Saturday, Leo has been making daily appeals for peace. “I am following with deep concern what is happening in the Middle East and in Iran during this tumultuous time,” he wrote on X the day after the airstrikes began.
“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,” Leo said.
The pope called for “all the parties involved to assume the moral responsibility of halting the spiral of violence before it becomes an unbridgeable chasm.”
