Pope Leo XIV delivered his third strong condemnation of President Donald Trump’s military campaign against Iran in less than a week, warning on Tuesday, March 3, 2026, that the intensifying violence threatens to create “an irreparable abyss” between nations as civilian fatalities grow and U.S. soldiers return home in flag-draped coffins.
From Villa Barberini in Castel Gandolfo, the 70-year-old pontiff from Chicago spoke candidly about Operation Epic Fury, the expansive air and ground offensive Trump launched on Feb. 28 without congressional authorization. The operation has already claimed the lives of six American troops, leveled a girls’ elementary school in the southern city of Minab, and pushed the Middle East to the brink of a larger regional war.
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres denounced the escalating conflict, calling for an immediate ceasefire while cautioning that the ongoing strikes risk triggering “a wider regional conflict with grave consequences for civilians and regional stability.”
“Stability and peace cannot be obtained through intimidation or armed force, which bring devastation, grief, and death, but only through reasonable, sincere, and responsible dialogue,” Pope Leo XIV said in remarks that represented his most forceful criticism of the Trump administration’s approach to Iran so far.
The Pope’s criticism stands in sharp contrast to Trump’s defiant defense of the operation. Speaking from Mar-a-Lago, the president insisted the attacks would “continue, uninterrupted throughout the week or, as long as necessary” and vowed to strike Iran “with a force that has never been seen before.”
Casualty figures paint a dire picture as the conflict moves into its second week. Iranian authorities say at least 1,332 people have been killed since Trump ordered the assault on Feb. 28, according to Iran’s semiofficial Tasnim news agency, with more than 6,000 others wounded.
The deadliest event remains the bombing of the Minab girls’ elementary school in southeastern Iran, where Iranian Health Ministry spokesman Hossein Kermanpour reports that roughly 180 children were killed. Iran’s Foundation of Martyrs and Veterans Affairs stated that 1,230 military and civilian deaths had been recorded as of March 5.
In Israel, Iranian retaliatory missile strikes have left at least 11 people dead, including nine in a ballistic missile attack on Beit Shemesh in central Israel and one woman in Tel Aviv who was killed by falling shrapnel.
The U.S. military death toll remains at six service members, all Army reservists who died when an Iranian drone hit a tactical operations center at Kuwait’s Shuaiba port on March 1.
Across Gulf nations hosting U.S. military bases, at least nine people have been killed by Iranian strikes, including an Asian worker in Bahrain. The World Health Organization reports that 13 healthcare facilities in Iran have been damaged during the fighting.
The offensive succeeded in killing Iran’s 86-year-old Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and roughly 40 senior Iranian commanders, including Abdolrahim Mousavi, the chief of Iran’s armed forces. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian called the attack “an open war against Muslims” and vowed to respond.
Pope Leo XIV has now spoken out three times since the bombing campaign began on Feb. 28. In his Sunday Angelus address on March 1, he told crowds in St. Peter’s Square that he was “following with deep concern what is happening in the Middle East and Iran in these dramatic hours.” On Tuesday, he repeated his call for global leaders to “truly seek to promote dialogue” and to “find solutions, without weapons, to resolve problems.”
Christopher Hale, a former Obama adviser who heads the publication “Letters from Leo,” said the Iran operation is viewed within the Pope’s circle as “immoral, illegal, and a grave threat to the entire human family.” The Vatican had already rejected Trump’s invitation for Pope Leo to join what the president has labeled his “Board of Peace.”
The pontiff has emerged as one of Trump’s strongest critics since the president took office on January 20, 2025. Pope Leo expressed alarm over Trump’s January seizure of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, urging all parties to respect Venezuela’s sovereignty and legal processes, and he has consistently denounced the administration’s treatment of detained migrants. He has left the United States entirely off his travel plans for 2026.
Iran’s counterstrikes have spread conflict across the Gulf, targeting U.S. bases in Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, and the United Arab Emirates. Explosions rattled Dubai as missiles streaked across the night sky. Russian President Vladimir Putin called Khamenei’s killing “murder” and “a cynical violation of all norms of human morality.”
Trump maintained his hardline stance on Truth Social, warning Iran on March 1: “THEY BETTER NOT DO THAT, HOWEVER, BECAUSE IF THEY DO, WE WILL HIT THEM WITH A FORCE THAT HAS NEVER BEEN SEEN BEFORE!” He admitted that more American casualties were likely, saying in a video statement that “that often happens in war,” but argued, “we’re doing this not for now, we’re doing this for the future and it is a noble mission.”
The Pope offered a very different message in his pre-Lent reflection, urging people to “cultivate kindness and respect in our families, among our friends, at work, on social media, in political debates, in the media and in Christian communities.” He called on believers to ensure that “words of hatred will give way to words of hope and peace.”
Pope Leo XIV concluded his Tuesday remarks with a plea that contrasted sharply with the ongoing violence on the ground: “May diplomacy regain its proper role, and may the well-being of peoples, who yearn for peaceful existence founded on justice, be upheld. And let us continue to pray for peace.”