Pope Leo condemns Iran war on Palm Sunday — 'God rejects prayers of those who wage war with hands full of blood'

Pope Leo, the first US-born pope, used Palm Sunday — the opening of the holiest week of the year for 1.4 billion Catholics — to deliver his most pointed condemnation of the Iran war to date. Addressing tens of thousands in St. Peter's Square, he declared: 'This is our God: Jesus, King of Peace, who rejects war, whom no one can use to justify war. He does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war, but rejects them, saying: Even though you make many prayers, I will not listen: your hands are full of blood.' The Pope did not name specific leaders, but his words directly rebut rhetoric from US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who has been leading Christian prayer services at the Pentagon invoking 'overwhelming violence of action against those who deserve no mercy.' Pope Leo has repeatedly called for an immediate ceasefire and said on a previous occasion that military airstrikes are indiscriminate and should be banned. His Palm Sunday address carries enormous global weight — it is heard by Catholics worldwide during the most sacred period of the Christian calendar and signals the Vatican's active opposition to both the US-Israeli military campaign and its religious justification.