President Donald Trump threatens that “a whole civilization will die tonight” unless Iran strikes a deal with the United States by 8 p.m. Eastern on April 7.
The National Catholic Reporter quotes Leo XIV as calling the threats “truly unacceptable” and said that such attacks would violate international law. In some of his strongest comments yet against the war, Leo urged Americans and others to demand that political leaders reject war and work for peace.
“Today as we all know there was this threat against all the people of Iran. This is truly unacceptable,” Leo said.
NCR reported further that “theologians, priests, academics, authors, media personalities, bishops and others took to social media platforms April 7 to warn that military strikes on civilian targets and infrastructure in Iran would constitute grave evils and violate the Catholic Church’s just war tradition.”
This is not primarily a matter of politics but of morality, of right and wrong, of sin and evil.