"As a pastor, I cannot be in favor of war," Pope Leo XIV said about the war in Iran during his airborne press conference upon his return trip to Rome. "If there is regime change or no regime change, the question is how to promote the values in which we believe without the death of so many innocent people."
Flying high over the Sahara Desert after leaving Equatorial Guinea, Leo once again expressed his concern over the war in Iran, a position which garnered a vociferous social media attack from President Donald Trump at the outset of his trip through Africa 11 days ago.
Returning to Rome on April 23, the pope took questions from journalists in the traditional post-trip, in-flight press conference on topics of war, migration, same-sex blessings and the nature of his visits with the authoritarian leaders throughout Africa.
On the negotiations around the war in Iran, he said that Iran's innocent civilian population must be kept in mind and that the stop-and-start peace negotiations between Iran and the United States "has created this chaotic situation for the global economy."
The pope called for the warring parties to "make every effort to promote peace" and to respect international law.
"It is very important that the innocent may be protected, which has not been the case in many places," he said, before continuing to reveal a personal anecdote.
The pope was asked directly if he condemns the Iranian regime, which has been accused of carrying out executions against prisoners and violently cracking down on protests that began in February.
"When a regime, when a country, takes decisions which takes away the lives of people unjustly then obviously that is something that should be condemned," the pope said, without explicitly naming Iran. "I condemn all actions that are unjust. I condemn the taking of people's lives. I condemn capital punishment."
