Vatican urges Iran to avoid ‘in any way’ escalating conflict in Middle East

Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin (left) and Iran President Masoud Pezeshkian. / Credit: Horacio Villalobos#Corbis/Getty Images; Majid Saeedi/Getty Images

Rome Newsroom, Aug 12, 2024 / 10:25 am (CNA).

The Vatican has urged Iran to avoid escalating “in any way” the ongoing conflict in the Middle East.

Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican’s secretary of state, spoke on the phone on Monday morning with Iran’s new president, Masoud Pezeshkian, in a conversation that underlined the need for dialogue, negotiation, and peace. 

According to Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni, the cardinal “expressed the Holy See’s serious concern about what is happening in the Middle East, reiterating the need to avoid in any way the widening of the very serious ongoing conflict and preferring instead dialogue, negotiation, and peace.”

The Aug. 12 phone call by the Vatican secretary of state to congratulate the Iranian president on beginning his term in office occurred as the threat of a retaliatory attack by Iran looms.

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has ordered a guided missile submarine to the Middle East amid reports that Iran may attack within days, The Guardian reported Monday.

Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has said in a statement on his official website that revenge is “our duty” following the assassination of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran on July 31.

Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said Sunday that it is on high alert for potential retaliation from Iran and its proxies.

The United States, Qatar, and Egypt have been working to broker an agreement to end the Israel-Hamas war.

Pezeshkian assumed office in Tehran at the end of July after winning Iran’s runoff presidential election as a reformist candidate promising to reach out to the West. As president, Pezeshkian is the top elected official and second in rank to Iran’s supreme leader, who wields power as commander-in-chief and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

Iran is one of the least Catholic countries in the world. Conversion from Islam to Christianity can be a crime meriting a sentence of more than 10 years of imprisonment. 

The Latin Catholic Archdiocese of Tehran-Isfahan has six parishes and approximately 2,000 Catholics. Archbishop Dominique Mathieu serves as the current archbishop of Tehran-Isfahan.

At Pope Francis’ most recent general audience, the Holy Father said he was following the situation in the Middle East with great concern.

“I reiterate my appeal to all the parties involved that the conflict does not spread and that there may be an immediate cease-fire on all fronts, starting with Gaza, where the humanitarian situation is very serious and unsustainable,” Pope Francis said Aug. 7.

“I pray that the sincere search for peace will extinguish strife, love will overcome hatred, and vengeance will be disarmed by forgiveness.”