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Pope Leo XIV Condemns War Violence, Calls for Global Peace Vigil on April 11

Pope Leo XIV Condemns War Violence, Calls for Global Peace Vigil on April 11
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Pope Leo XIV used his first Easter “Urbi et Orbi” blessing on Sunday to deliver a stark warning that the world is “growing accustomed to violence” amid wars in the Middle East and Ukraine, urging leaders with “the power to unleash wars” to “choose peace.” Tens of thousands packed St. Peter’s Square as the first U.S.-born pontiff also announced a global prayer vigil for peace at the Vatican on April 11. cnn +2

A Direct Challenge to a World “Accustomed to Violence”

Speaking from the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica, Leo condemned what he called a creeping “indifference” to mass suffering, saying humanity was resigning itself to the deaths of “thousands of people” in modern conflicts. nbcnews +1 He appealed to leaders to abandon “every desire for conflict, domination and power” in favor of dialogue and “encounter,” insisting that “the power with which Christ rose is entirely nonviolent.” cnn +2

The pope’s message was tightly bound to current wars: the U.S.–Israeli campaign in Iran, where rights monitors estimate more than 3,400 deaths including about 1,500 civilians and some 230 children, and the continued Russian assault on Ukraine. cnn +2 He framed Easter as a test of moral credibility, repeating a Holy Week theme that God “does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war” and warning against invoking Jesus to justify violence. nbcnews +1

Collision with U.S. War Rhetoric and Religious Nationalism

Leo’s Holy Week remarks had already placed him on a collision course with Washington, where President Donald Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth have repeatedly wrapped the Iran war in explicitly Christian language. Hegseth, at a recent Pentagon service, prayed that every bullet would “find its mark against the enemies of righteousness and our great nation,” a formulation peace scholars described as a bid to cloak military action in divine approval. nbcnews +2

The White House pushed back after the pope said God rejects the prayers of war leaders, with press secretary Karoline Leavitt insisting there was “nothing wrong” with calling Americans to pray for U.S. troops and stressing the country’s “Judeo‑Christian values.” nbcnews +1 Conservative religious commentators accused Leo of undermining soldiers and misreading scripture, while Catholic peace groups such as Pax Christi praised a “commanding” assertion of Christian nonviolence that they said reflects the church’s deepest tradition. nbcnews +1

The Bigger Picture

By pairing an uncompromising denunciation of religiously framed warfare with a global vigil for peace, Leo signaled that his young papacy intends to contest both geopolitical aggression and the narratives that justify it. His appeal underscored a widening fault line inside Western Christianity over whether faith should sacralize military power or restrain it—one that will likely sharpen as the Iran and Ukraine wars grind on and as governments weigh whether the Vatican’s moral rebuke demands any change in policy.