The pontiff used his weekly audience and remarks to reporters to address both the Iran-US peace agreement and his sharpest comments yet on far-right migration policy.
Pope Leo XIV on Wednesday welcomed the agreement between Iran and the United States to end the war in the Middle East, calling it an encouraging product of patient diplomacy.
Speaking at the close of his weekly general audience in St Peter’s Square, the pontiff expressed satisfaction that dialogue had prevailed. He thanked the third-party countries that had worked to bring the two sides together, and said he hoped the agreement would help build “mutual trust, security and stability in the Middle East by promoting paths of dialogue and cooperation between peoples.”
The deal, reached earlier this week, is due to be formally signed in Switzerland on Friday as a Memorandum of Understanding. Its reported provisions include the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz to shipping, a ceasefire framework involving Israel and Hezbollah, and the opening of a 60-day negotiation period on Iran’s uranium enrichment activities. The agreement comes after nearly four months of conflict that has stressed the global economy and devastated the region.
Leo had already commented on the emerging Iran-US deal on Tuesday, telling reporters at his summer residence in Castel Gandolfo that “there are still several points to be settled, but it’s always better to do so through dialogue and negotiation rather than returning to a state of war.”
Ukraine: A call to prayer
The pope also addressed the ongoing war in Ukraine, where a fresh wave of Russian bombardments has caused civilian casualties and cultural destruction. The devestation included a fire this week at the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra monastery, a UNESCO world heritage site.
“So many innocent victims, rescuers have been killed, churches and cultural heritage sites devastated by bombs,” he said, expressing solidarity with the bereaved, the wounded, and those continuing to live amid the violence. He called on the faithful to pray for an end to the conflict and for the Lord “to open paths of dialogue, to extinguish hatred, and to make a just and lasting peace possible.”
Remigration “Not the most Christian response”
Leo also took direct aim at the concept of remigration — the forced or incentivised mass return of migrants to their countries of origin — a policy championed by several far-right parties across Europe, including Roberto Vannacci’s newly launched Futuro Nazionale in Italy.
The American-born pontiff said the policy failed to reckon with the realities that drive displacement.
“Many times we do not recognise the reasons why these people had to leave their countries,” he said. “So many reasons: violence, war, conflicts. And so simply saying, ‘Let’s send them away, so we can wash our hands of the problem’ does not seem to me the most Christian response. We must truly respect people, look at the cases, and above all treat people as people with respect.”
