Pope renews plea for peace at audience (Vatican Press Office)

At the conclusion of his Wednesday public audience on June 18, Pope Leo XIV said: “The Church is brokenhearted at the cry of pain arising from places devastated by war, especially Ukraine, Iran, Israel, and Gaza.

Insisting that “the temptation to have recourse to powerful and sophisticated weapons needs to be rejected,” the Pontiff quoted Pope Francis: “War is always a defeat;“ and Pope Pius XII: “Nothing is lost with peace. Everything may be lost with war.”