The president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and Pope Leo XIV called for deescalation and dialogue in the Middle East following the joint attacks on Iran launched on Saturday, February 28, by the United States and Israel, which killed Iran’s longtime supreme leader, 86-year-old Ayato llah Ali Khamenei. The attacks prompted a wave of strikes by Iran across the region, with deaths and casualties – including the loss of at least four U.S. military personnel – on all sides. In a March 1 statement, Archbishop Paul S. Coakley of Oklahoma City, president of the USCCB, warned the “growing conflict risks spiraling into a wider regional war.” Noting Pope Leo’s plea for peace in his March 1 Angelus remarks – with the pope warning of an “irreparable abyss” if the violence continues to spiral – Archbishop Coakley said, “We are faced with the possibility of a tragedy of immense proportions.” Archbishop Coakley added: “My brother bishops and I unite our voice with our Holy Father and make the heartfelt appeal to all parties involved for diplomacy to regain its proper role.” Quoting the pope’s remarks, he added, “We ask for a halt to the spiral of violence, and a return to multilateral diplomatic engagement that seeks to uphold the ‘well-being of peoples, who yearn for peaceful existence founded on justice.’” The USCCB president stressed that “all nations, international bodies, and partners committed to peace must exert every effort to prevent further escalation.” Describing the present moment as “critical,” Archbishop Coakley invited “Catholics and all people of goodwill to continue our ardent prayers for peace in the Middle East, for the safety of our troops and the innocent, that leaders may seek dialogue over destruction, and pursue the common good over the tragedy of war.” His statement contained a link to a June 2025 appeal for prayer and diplomacy by Bishop A. Elias Zaidan, chairman of the USCCB’s Committee on International Justice and Peace, after the U.S. had launched precision strikes on several of Iran’s key nuclear facilities. In that statement, Bishop Zaidan, head of the Maronite Eparchy of Our Lady of Lebanon of Los Angeles, had urged “multilateral diplomatic engagement for the attainment of a durable peace between Israel and Iran.” Archbishop Coakley concluded his March 1 statement by imploring “the intercession of our Blessed Mother, Mary, Queen of Peace, to pray for our troubled world and for a lasting peace.” In his Angelus address held roughly 12 hours after the U.S. and Israel revealed that Khamenei and other leaders in Iran had been killed, Pope Leo issued a fervent appeal for return of diplomacy in “these dramatic hours” in the Middle East and Iran, condemning use of weapons that cause “destruction, pain, and death.” The pope said he was “following with profound concern” these events and warned of a potential “tragedy of enormous proportions.” He appealed for the warring parties to assume “the moral responsibility of halting the spiral of violence” before it becomes “an irreparable abyss.” The pope insisted the nations return to diplomacy. “Stability and peace are not built through mutual threats, nor with weapons that sow destruction, pain, and death, but only through reasonable, authentic, and responsible dialogue,” he said. The ongoing joint U.S. and Israeli attack on Iran has targeted Tehran and cities across Iran, with Gulf countries caught in the crossfire as Iran launches retaliatory strikes. “Faced with the possibility of a tragedy of enormous proportions, I address to the parties involved a heartfelt appeal to assume the moral responsibility of halting the spiral of violence before it becomes an irreparable abyss,” he said. “May diplomacy regain its role and promote the good of the peoples who yearn for peaceful coexistence based on justice,” he added, urging the world to “continue to pray for peace.” What Pope Leo called a “spiral of violence” continued to unfold on March 1 as mutual attacks escalated hour by hour throughout the Middle East. Israel and Iran launched fresh attacks on March 1, with the BBC reporting that Iran’s state-run Islamic Republic News Agency said Tehran has been hit by 60 attacks in 24 hours, leaving 57 people dead – numbers reportedly provided by the Tehran Province Red Crescent Society. Israel’s military said on X on March 1 that its strikes have killed 40 Iranian commanders, including Abdolrahim Mousavi, the chief of staff of Iran’s armed forces. Iranian state television confirmed the death. Pope Leo, during his Angelus appeal, reminded people that in recent days, “we have also received disturbing news of clashes between Pakistan and Afghanistan.” He raised a “plea for an urgent return to dialogue.” “Let us pray together that harmony may prevail in all the world’s conflicts,” he said, adding, “Only peace, a gift of God, can heal the wounds between peoples.” In a February 28 statement to OSV News, Chaldean Catholic Archbishop Bashar M. Warda of Irbil, Iraq, said he “witnessed the years of violence, displacement, and bombings that shook Iraq after 2003,” referencing the U.S-led invasion of Iraq that year in retaliation for the 9/11 terror attacks. “These are not chapters in a book for us,” Archbishop Warda said. “They are memories we still carry,” Archbishop Warda stressed. “We know what sirens sound like in the middle of the night. We know what it means for a child to fall asleep afraid. We know the silence of empty streets, the fear in a mother’s eyes, the pain of families who leave their homes not knowing if they will ever return.” For that reason, said Archbishop Warda, “When we see tensions rising again in our region, we do not see it as distant news. We feel it in our hearts. “Every new escalation reopens wounds that have not fully healed,” he explained. “Our people are still recovering, emotionally, economically, spiritually, from the wars of the past.” “The Middle East does not need another war,” Archbishop Warda said. “Our children deserve stability. Our families deserve peace. Ordinary people have already paid too high a price for conflicts they did not choose.” He concluded, “From Irbil, a city that once welcomed thousands who fled violence, I appeal for wisdom, restraint, and dialogue.” The post USCCB President, Pope Leo XIV Call for Dialogue Amid Attacks on Iran appeared first on Today's Catholic. ...read more read less