VATICAN CITY: Pope Leo appealed on Saturday for authorities in Iran and Israel to act with \u201creason\u201d after airstrikes between the two countries killed dozens and sent civilians into shelters, and called on the nations to pursue dialogue.<\/p>\n
Leo, in one of the strongest peace appeals yet of his five-week papacy, told an audience in St. Peter\u2019s Basilica he was following the situation with \u201cgreat concern.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIn such a delicate moment, I strongly wish to renew an appeal to responsibility and to reason,\u201d said the pope.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe commitment to building a safer world free from the nuclear threat must be pursued through respectful encounters and sincere dialogue to build a lasting peace, founded on justice, fraternity, and the common good,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo one should ever threaten the existence of another,\u201d said Leo. \u201cIt is the duty of all countries to support the cause of peace, initiating paths of reconciliation and promoting solutions that guarantee security and dignity for all.\u201d<\/p>\n
Leo was elected on May 8 to replace the late Pope Francis and is the first pope from the United States. Unlike Francis, who often spoke off the cuff at public events, Leo is more cautious with words and almost always speaks from a prepared text.<\/p>\n
The pope read aloud his appeal on Saturday in Italian from a piece of paper.<\/p>\n
Israel launched a large-scale attack on Iran early on Friday, targeting commanders, military targets and nuclear sites in what it called a \u201cpreemptive strike\u201d to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapons program.<\/p>\n
Iran, which denies that its uranium enrichment activities are part of a secret weapons program, retaliated by launching waves of missiles at Israel, killing at least two people and injuring dozens.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
VATICAN CITY: Pope Leo appealed on Saturday for authorities in Iran and Israel to act with \u201creason\u201d after airstrikes between the two countries killed dozens and sent civilians into shelters, and called on the nations to pursue dialogue. Leo, in one of the strongest peace appeals yet of his five-week papacy, told an audience in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":484188,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-484176","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n