Overview
- In an interview with Vatican News, Cardinal Pietro Parolin said the campaign has produced a “weakening of international law.”
- He rejected any claimed right to launch “preventive war,” warning that such a doctrine could put the world at risk of “going up in flames.”
- Parolin urged pursuit of peace and security through diplomacy within multilateral institutions and voiced sorrow for civilians, including fragile Christian communities, caught in the fighting.
- The Vatican’s unusually direct public critique departs from its customary preference for quiet, behind-the-scenes mediation.
- U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran have continued for five days, with President Trump asserting they are needed to prevent a nuclear weapon and to thwart long-range missile development.