Pope prays 'roar of the bombs' in Middle East will cease
"Added to the episodes of violence and devastation and the widespread climate of hatred and fear, is the fear that the conflict will spread, and that other countries in the region, including beloved Lebanon, may once again sink into instability."
Vehicles move along a highway past a war memorial statue and a billboard depicting Iran's late supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei who was killed in an air strike on February 28, with plumes of black smoke billowing, in Tehran on March 8, 2026. (Photo by AFP)
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VATICAN CITY — Pope Leo XIV on Sunday prayed the "roar of bombs" in the Middle East will cease, as the war triggered by US-Israeli air strikes on Iran extended into its ninth day.
News from the region "continues to arouse deep dismay", the US-born pope said at the end of the Angelus prayer.
"Added to the episodes of violence and devastation and the widespread climate of hatred and fear, is the fear that the conflict will spread, and that other countries in the region, including beloved Lebanon, may once again sink into instability," he said.
On Sunday, Iran was preparing to reveal its new supreme leader, after US-Israeli air strikes destroyed fuel dumps and triggered fires that choked much of Tehran in a thick blanket of smoke.
Iranian missile-and-drone retaliation has targeted many Gulf countries and further afield in the Middle East.
US President Donald Trump has refused to rule out sending American ground troops into Iran, but continues to insist that the war is progressing speedily.
Leo said he prayed "that the roar of the bombs may cease, the weapons may fall silent, and a space for dialogue may open in which the voices of the peoples may be heard".