Pope Leo XIV Criticizes Trump’s Iran War for the Third Time in Three Days

From St. Peter's Square to Castel Gandolfo, the first American pope has made peace the unmistakable mandate of his pontificate — and Operation Epic Fury his clearest target yet.

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For the third time in three days, Pope Leo XIV has raised his voice against Donald Trump’s war in Iran — and the world should be paying attention.

On Tuesday afternoon at the Villa Barberini in Castel Gandolfo, the pope delivered another pointed appeal for peace, urging world leaders to “truly seek to promote dialogue” and “find solutions, without weapons, to resolve problems.” He told those gathered: “Pray for peace, work for peace, less hatred. Hatred keeps growing in the world.”

The statement follows a searing Sunday Angelus in which the pope demanded an end to the “spiral of violence” unleashed by Operation Epic Fury — the joint U.S.-Israeli assault that has killed nearly 800 Iranians, including 85 children in a single school strike, and at least six American service members.

And it follows Saturday’s revelation that the pope views the strikes as “immoral, illegal, and a grave threat to the entire human family.”

Three appeals in three days. That is not a coincidence. That is a pope who has decided that silence is no longer an option.

From the first months of his pontificate, peace has been Pope Leo XIV’s defining message — not one issue among many, but the moral lens through which he interprets everything else. He condemned the world’s “zeal for war” during Trump’s Venezuela campaign.

He challenged the administration’s saber-rattling over Cuba. He pleaded for diplomacy during the first round of Iran strikes last June.

And now, as Trump boasts that his war is running “substantially ahead of schedule” and promises the “big wave” is yet to come, the first American pope is doing what Catholic social teaching demands — he is naming the sin.

“Stability and peace are not built through mutual threats or weapons, which sow destruction, pain, and death,” the pope said Sunday, “but only through reasonable, authentic, and responsible dialogue.”

This is just war doctrine in real time. Not debated in a seminar. Not buried in an encyclical. Spoken from the balcony and the garden, again and again, while the bombs fall.

Donald Trump launched Operation Epic Fury without congressional approval. He set four sweeping military objectives with no exit strategy.

He has dragged the United States into a regional conflagration that now stretches from Tehran to Beirut to the Gulf States — and he did it all while breaking his campaign promises of peace.

Pope Leo sees through the lies. He always has.

The question, as I wrote on Sunday, remains the same: the pope has taken his stand. Will we take ours?

At Letters from Leo, we stand with the millions of American Catholics — and countless others of goodwill — who believe that peace is not weakness but the highest expression of moral courage.

In an era poisoned by cruelty and war, we remain rooted in a faith that refuses to bless the bombs or baptize the brutality.

We’re not just watching history. We’re making it.

This is the fastest-growing Catholic community in the country because people are hungry for something deeper than rage and cynicism.

If you’re ready to build a country — and a Church — that chooses dialogue over destruction and justice over domination, then I’m asking for you to join us.

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Thank you for reading. I’ll see you on the road.