{"id":23870,"date":"2026-03-17T18:19:06","date_gmt":"2026-03-17T18:19:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/23870\/"},"modified":"2026-03-17T18:19:06","modified_gmt":"2026-03-17T18:19:06","slug":"pope-leo-calls-for-ceasefire-in-middle-east-special-prayers-for-lebanon-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/23870\/","title":{"rendered":"Pope Leo calls for ceasefire in Middle East, special prayers for Lebanon"},"content":{"rendered":"

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By Carol Glatz<\/p>\n

VATICAN CITY (CNS) \u2014 Marking the two weeks since the U.S. and Israel launched their first attacks on Iran and since the Israeli military resumed strikes in Lebanon, Pope Leo XIV called for an immediate ceasefire.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn behalf of the Christians of the Middle East, and of all women and men of good will, I appeal to those responsible for this conflict: cease fire!\u201d he said March 15.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor two weeks now, the people of the Middle East have been suffering the horrific violence of war,\u201d the pope said. \u201cThousands of innocent people have been killed, and countless others have been forced to flee their homes. I renew my prayerful closeness to all who have lost loved ones in the attacks, which have struck schools, hospitals and residential areas.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe situation in Lebanon is a cause for great concern,\u201d he added. \u201cI hope that avenues for dialogue will emerge to support the country\u2019s authorities in implementing lasting solutions to the serious crisis currently unfolding, for the common good of all the Lebanese people.\u201d<\/p>\n

The next day, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas called Pope Leo about the \u201calarming developments in the conflict in the Middle East and the living conditions of the Palestinian people,\u201d according to a communique released by the Vatican press office.<\/p>\n

\u201cDuring the conversation, the Holy Father reaffirmed the Holy See\u2019s commitment to achieving peace through political and diplomatic dialogue, as well as through full respect for international law,\u201d the press office said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Carol Glatz VATICAN CITY (CNS) \u2014 Marking the two weeks since the U.S. and Israel launched their…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":23871,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[93,11586,10307,5657,4214,11587],"class_list":{"0":"post-23870","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-lebanon","8":"tag-lebanon","9":"tag-leo-xiv","10":"tag-pope","11":"tag-pope-leo-xiv","12":"tag-vatican","13":"tag-vatican-city"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@iran\/116245900277116432","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23870","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23870"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23870\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23871"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23870"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23870"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23870"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}