“The issue is not whether there is regime change or not; the issue is how to promote the values we believe in without the death of so many innocent people," Pope Leo XIV said. Pope Leo XIV echoed his calls for dialogue and peace between the United States and Iran while expressing grief over the deaths of innocent children killed in a military attack that struck a girls’ elementary school in Minab, Iran.
The Holy Father offered these comments April 23 after he received a letter from parents of girls who died in the strike. More than 150 people were killed in the Feb. 28 strike, which the Defense Department says it is investigating.
“I have just seen a letter from families of children who were killed on the first day of the attack,” Leo said while speaking to journalists on a flight back to Rome after visiting four countries in Africa, according to the Vatican-run Vatican News. “They speak about how they have lost their children, who died in that event,” he said.
“The issue is not whether there is regime change or not; the issue is how to promote the values we believe in without the death of so many innocent people.” Leo called the situation in Iran “complex” amid the ongoing ceasefire, stating that “one day Iran says yes and the United States says no, and vice versa.” The pope warned: “We do not know where things are heading.” “This chaotic, critical situation for the global economy has been created, but there is also an entire population in Iran of innocent people suffering because of this war,” he said.
“So, on regime change, yes or no: It is not even clear what regime currently exists after the first days of attacks by Israel and the United States