Middle East

The Assembly of Catholic Patriarchs and Bishops in Lebanon issued a statement in which they called "for an immediate halt to the spiral of violence" currently taking place in the Middle East.

The Vatican secretary of state appealed for peace and diplomacy on the fifth day of the U.S. and Israel-Iran war, warning that recognition of any country's right to wage "preventive war" according to their own criteria would risk the world "being set ablaze."

The Catholic community in northern Iraq has been shaken by the attack of an explosive drone hitting the Chaldean Catholic complex in Ankawa, outside of Irbil.

Conservative MP Garnett Genuis told The Catholic Register that the Iranian diaspora in Canada has relayed that the interventions by the U.S. and Israel “are a source of joy and cautious optimism”.

As the scourge of war spreads across the Middle East, including Lebanon, the ones paying the ultimate price are the innocent men, women and children who want to live in peace, said Melkite Greek Catholic Archbishop Georges Iskandar of Tyre.

As the United States and Israel continued their campaign against Iran, bishops and Christian leaders appeal for peace before the conflict escalates any further.

Pope Leo XIV 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 leader of the U.S. Catholic bishops has echoed Pope Leo XIV's call for deescalation and dialogue in the Middle East, following the joint attacks on Iran launched Feb. 28 by the U.S. and Israel.

Catholics across the Middle East are reeling with shock and sorrow, and responding with prayer, amid joint strikes Israeli and U.S. forces launched on Iran Feb. 28.