Pope Leo XIV on Sunday rejected claims that God justifies war, as he prayed especially for Middle Eastern Christians during a Palm Sunday mass before tens of thousands of people in St. Peter’s Square.
With the US-Israel war against Iran entering its second month and Russia’s ongoing campaign in Ukraine, Leo dedicated his Palm Sunday homily to his insistence that God is the “king of peace” who rejects violence and comforts the oppressed.
“Brothers and sisters, this is our God: Jesus, King of Peace, who rejects war, whom no one can use to justify war,” León said. “He does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war, but rejects them.”
Leaders on all sides of Iran’s war have used religion to justify their actions. American officials, especially Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, have invoked their Christian faith to portray the war as a Christian nation trying to defeat its enemies with military might.
The Russian Orthodox Church has also justified the Russian invasion of Ukraine as a “holy war” against a Western world it believes has fallen into evil.
Palm Sunday marks Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem in the time before his crucifixion, which Christians celebrate on Good Friday and resurrection on Easter Sunday.
In a special blessing at the end of the mass, Leo said he was praying especially for Christians in the Middle East who are “suffering the consequences of a terrible conflict. In many cases, they are unable to fully experience the rites of these holy days.”
Earlier Sunday, the Latin Patriarchate said Jerusalem police prevented top leaders of the Catholic Church from entering the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. It was the first time in centuries that church leaders were prevented from celebrating Palm Sunday at the site where Christians believe Jesus was crucified, the Patriarchate said.
Receive the latest national news
Get the latest Canadian news delivered to your inbox as it happens so you don’t miss any breaking news.
Israeli police said the Catholic leaders’ request for access to the church had been denied, as all holy sites in Jerusalem’s Old City were closed to worshipers for security reasons. A police statement said freedom of religion would continue to remain “subject to necessary restrictions”.
Leo said that during Holy Week Christians cannot forget how many people around the world are suffering like Christ. “Their trials appeal to everyone’s conscience. Let us raise our prayers to the Prince of Peace so that he may support those wounded by war and open concrete paths of reconciliation and peace,” Leo said.
A Holy Week that remembers the suffering of Pope Francis
For many people in the Vatican, the start of this year’s Holy Week brings back memories of the final days of suffering for Pope Francis, who died on Easter Monday.
When Holy Week began last year, Francis was still recovering at the Vatican after a five-week hospital stay for double pneumonia. He had delegated the liturgical celebrations to others, but on Easter Sunday he gathered to greet the faithful from the loggia in St. Peter’s Square. Most movingly, he then made what became his last popemobile around the square.
Francisco died the next morning after suffering a stroke. His nurse, Massimiliano Strappetti, later told Vatican Media that Francis had told him: “Thank you for bringing me back to the square” for the final greeting.
León will preside over the liturgical events this week and will return to tradition with the foot washing ceremony on Holy Thursday that commemorates the Last Supper of Jesus with his disciples.
During his 12-year pontificate, Francis celebrated the Holy Thursday ritual by traveling to Rome-area prisons and refugee centers to wash the feet of society’s most marginalized people. His goal was to convey the ritual’s message of service and humility, and he often reflected during his Holy Thursday homilies: “Why them and not me?”
Francis’s gesture had been praised as tangible evidence of his belief that the Church must go to the peripheries to find those most in need of God’s love and mercy. But some critics bristled at the annual outings, especially because Francis also washed the feet of Muslims and people of other faiths.
Leo reestablishes the tradition of foot washing at Easter
Leo, the first American-born pope in history, is returning the tradition of Holy Thursday footwashing to the Basilica of St. John Lateran, where popes performed it for decades. The Vatican has not yet said who will participate, although Popes Benedict XVI and John Paul II typically washed the feet of 12 priests.
On Friday, Leo will preside over the Good Friday procession at the Colosseum in Rome to commemorate the Passion and Crucifixion of Christ. On Saturday comes the nighttime Easter Vigil, during which Leo will baptize new Catholics, followed a few hours later by Easter Sunday, when Christians commemorate the resurrection of Jesus.
Leo will celebrate Easter Sunday Mass in St. Peter’s Square and then pronounce his Easter blessing from the basilica loggia.
© 2026 The Canadian Press
