{"id":206128,"date":"2026-04-01T16:55:26","date_gmt":"2026-04-01T16:55:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/pope-leo-makes-holy-week-appeal-to-trump-world-leaders-to-end-iran-war-catholic-world-report\/"},"modified":"2026-04-01T16:55:26","modified_gmt":"2026-04-01T16:55:26","slug":"pope-leo-makes-holy-week-appeal-to-trump-world-leaders-to-end-iran-war-catholic-world-report","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/pope-leo-makes-holy-week-appeal-to-trump-world-leaders-to-end-iran-war-catholic-world-report\/","title":{"rendered":"Pope Leo makes Holy Week appeal to Trump, world leaders to end Iran war – Catholic World Report"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/i>March 31, 2026<\/a><\/span> <\/i>Amira Abuzeid<\/a><\/span> <\/i>News Briefs<\/a><\/span> <\/i>4<\/a><\/span> <\/i>Print<\/a><\/span>
The pope expressed hope that President Donald Trump is seeking a way to decrease violence in the Middle East.
Pope Leo XIV has renewed his appeal for peace in a world wounded by conflict and violence.
In remarks to journalists on March 31 outside the papal villa of Castel Gandolfo, the pope reminded that \u201cEaster should be the holiest, most sacred time of the year. It is a time of peace, a time for much reflection, but as we all know, once again in the world, in so many places, we are seeing so much suffering, so many deaths, even innocent children.\u201d
The pope said he had been told President Donald Trump wants to end the war in the Middle East and expressed hope that Trump is seeking a way to decrease the violence.
Pope Leo asked everyone, \u201cespecially Christians,\u201d to \u201clive these days recognizing that Christ is still crucified today, that Christ still suffers today in the innocent, especially those who are suffering from violence, hatred, and war.\u201d
\u201cLet us pray for them, for the victims of war, let us pray that there may truly be a new, renewed peace, which can give new life to all,\u201d Pope Leo urged.
\u201cWe make continuous appeals for peace, but unfortunately many people want to promote hatred and violence, war,\u201d the pope said.
He expressed hope for a truce during Easter, saying: \u201cI\u2019m told that President Trump recently stated that he would like to end the war. Hopefully he\u2019s looking for an \u2018off ramp.\u2019 Hopefully he\u2019s looking for a way to decrease the amount of violence, of bombing, which would be a significant contribution to removing the hatred that\u2019s being created and that\u2019s increasing constantly in the Middle East and elsewhere.\u201d
The pope addressed all world leaders, urging them: \u201cCome back to the table, to dialogue. Let\u2019s look for solutions to problems, let\u2019s look for ways to reduce the amount of violence that we\u2019re promoting, that peace \u2014 especially at Easter \u2014 might reign in our hearts.\u201d
In response to a question about his plans, announced today, to carry a cross during the Good Friday Stations of the Cross at the Colosseum in Rome, the pope said: \u201cI think it will be an important sign because of what the pope represents: a spiritual leader in today\u2019s world, a voice to say that Christ still suffers. And I carry all these sufferings in my prayers as well.\u201d
He asked \u201call people of goodwill, to people of faith, to walk together, to walk with Christ who suffered for us, to give us salvation, and to seek to be bearers of peace ourselves.\u201d
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Vatican City, Dec 10, 2022 \/ 07:00 am (CNA).
Pope Francis told seminarians on Saturday that praying the rosary can \u201cunveil the mysteries of the priesthood\u201d in its moments of joy, sorrow, and the glory to come.
In a meeting with seminarians from Barcelona, the pope urged the young men to remember that \u201cwhen you are a priest your first obligation will be a life of prayer.\u201d
\u201cDear seminarians, take up your rosary and ask Mary, Queen and Mother of Mercy, to help unveil the mysteries of the priesthood to which God calls you, contemplating the mysteries of his Son, realizing that the joy of discipleship and perfect identification with the cross are the only way to glory,\u201d Pope Francis said on Dec. 10.
The pope explained that the joyful mysteries of the priesthood are \u201cborn of gratitude for that preferential love that God showed you by calling you to his service.\u201d
He recommended that seminarians contemplate the Blessed Virgin Mary\u2019s attitude at the Annunciation and ask: \u201cHow was she when God called her? And how was I? With what zeal do I consider my future priestly life? Will I rise up \u2026 with love, to bring God to the world? Will I take him up the most arduous and painful of mountains?\u201d
Pope Francis added that the fifth joyful mystery of the rosary, the finding of Jesus in the temple, contains a particular lesson that should never be forgotten.
Throughout life, we must always return to look for Jesus in the tabernacle, he said, encouraging the future priests to \u201close yourselves there with Him.\u201d
In the sorrowful mysteries of the rosary, a priest is reminded that he \u201cmust aspire to a crown of thorns,\u201d to be identified with the Lord in his suffering, the pope said.
\u201cThere is the sacrifice of assuming one’s own cross and beginning a path, often of abandonment. It is the sacrifice of life. Looking at the cross we raise our eyes to heaven and see our destiny,\u201d Pope Francis said.
For a priest, the glorious mysteries are found in the Mass in thanksgiving for the Passion of Jesus, he explained.
\u201cAfter the triumph of the resurrection, Jesus entered the sanctuary of heaven and from there he perpetuates this continuous thanksgiving. Seeing him seated at the right hand of the Father calls us to hope and fills us with joy because he assures us of heaven,\u201d he said.
\u201cFor this God sends the Holy Spirit, the only one who can teach us these mysteries, and one day he will give you the gift of being priests of Christ. Never cease to savor and remember this love of predilection that is poured and will be poured abundantly into your heart, at your ordination, and for the rest of your days.\u201d
\u201cNever extinguish this fire that will make you fearless preachers of the Gospel, dispensers of divine gifts. Unite your flesh to that of Jesus, like Mary, to immolate yourselves with him in the Eucharistic sacrifice, and also in the glory of his triumph,” Pope Francis said.
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Vatican City, Oct 30, 2019 \/ 04:01 pm (CNA<\/a>).- Cardinal Angelo Becciu has denied any impropriety in a real estate investment made with Vatican funds and insisted that he only acted in the best interests of the Holy See.
In an interview with Italian media published Tuesday, the former deputy at the Holy See’s Secretariat of State rejected any wrongdoing in the authorization of a $200 million property deal to develop a building in London. 
Responding to what he called “slanderous charges” that he had “played with and tampered with the money of the poor” in the 2014 transaction, the cardinal defended the investment, saying it was “accepted practice.”
Speaking to ANSA<\/a>, the cardinal said “My conscience is clear and I know I have always acted in the interest of the Holy See and never in my personal one. Those who know me well can attest to that.”
Becciu served as “sostituto,” or second-ranking official at the Secretariat of State from 2011-2018, when Pope Francis named him a cardinal and moved him to the Congregation for the Causes of the Saints.
The interview came in response to media coverage of an ongoing investigation by Vatican criminal and financial authorities into a 2014 $200 million investment made through Athena Capital, a Luxembourg investment fund, which financed a stake in the development of a luxury apartment project in London.
Details of the investment were first reported by the Financial Times earlier this month. The money was taken from Swiss bank accounts under the control of the Secretariat of State and kept separately from other curial accounts held at the Vatican.
The London investment, along with a nearly $50 million 2018 investment in the same property, has raised questions about the internal control of Vatican money held in international banks and investment vehicles, especially after repeated efforts to bring financial practices into line with international practices and standards.
On Tuesday, Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin said the investment was a one-off, and the fund in question appeared to be “well managed.” He said that he was working to clear up questions about the project.
“We are working to clear up everything. This deal was rather opaque and now we are trying to clear it up,” Reuters quoted Parolin as saying.
Becciu told ANSA that there is a difference between Vatican funds intended for the benefit of the poor and the proceeds of the annual Peter’s Pence collection taken up in every parish in the world and sent to Rome.
“It is accepted practice for the Holy See to invest in property, it has always done so: in Rome, in Paris, in Switzerland and also in London,” Becciu said, insisting that the deal was “regular and registered according to law.”
“In the Secretariat of the State we had a fund entitled ‘money of the poor’. And it was destined for the poor. If, on the other hand, for money of the poor they want to refer to Peter’s Pence, we have to clarify,” Becciu said.
“The Pence is not only for the pope’s almsgiving but also the funding for his Pastoral ministry,” Becciu said, suggesting that the Secretariat’s two investments in the luxury apartment development were an appropriate use of donated funds.
Becciu did not address his reported involvement in other complicated Vatican transactions during the interview.
On Oct. 29, CNA reported that Becciu was involved<\/a> in a complicated series of events and financial transactions around the purchase of the Istituto Dermopatico dell’Immacolata (IDI), an Italian hospital that collapsed in 2013 under 800 million euros of debt through theft and fraud. 
As sostituto, sources told CNA, Becciu was the “driving force” behind requests for a $25 million grant from the U.S. based Papal Foundation, ostensibly to supply short-term liquidity to the hospital, but actually intended to help remove a 50 million euro bad loan from the books at the Vatican’s central bank, APSA.
While the balance of the grant was cancelled after pushback from Papal Foundation board members, $13 million dollars was initially sent to the Secretariat of State, though how the money was used has not been reported.
Becciu told CNA that although he had been involved in the purchase of the IDI by a partnership created by the Secretariat of State, “Cardinal Parolin assumed the office of Secretary of State [in 2013] and I no longer concerned myself with IDI.” 
In early 2019, Cardinal Parolin, wrote to the Papal Foundation saying the $13 million would be reclassified as a loan, rather than a grant, and would be repaid. 
Two sources within the Papal Foundation told CNA that the Vatican has proposed the loan be repaid through “discounts” applied each year to the list of grants requested of the Papal Foundation by Vatican offices and Catholic apostolates.
“The poor will end up paying the debt,” a source close to the Papal Foundation told CNA.
Becciu’s role in authorizing the $200 million investment, and the potential focus on his time at the Secretariat of State by Vatican investigators have placed his tenure there under renewed scrutiny. While there, he was responsible for the cancellation of an external audit of all curial finances, intended to centralize information and details of Vatican assets and funds held away from the Vatican and unavailable for scrutiny.
On October 1, Vatican prosecutors raided<\/a> the Secretariat of State’s offices. Documents and devices were seized. Although the Vatican did not indicate what exactly had prompted the investigation, subsequent reporting has indicated the London property investment and Cardinal Becciu were being looked into.
The next day, a confidential memo was leaked<\/a> announcing the suspension of five Vatican employees, including two officials: Msgr. Mauro Carlino, who oversees documentation at the Secretariat of State, along with layman Tomasso Di Ruzza, director of the Vatican’s Financial Intelligence Authority (AIF). Di Ruzza was subsequently cleared to return to work following and internal AIF investigation.
Becciu’s interview came two days after the same paper reported that Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte had been hired to consult on the deal in May, 2018, just weeks before taking office.
Conte has since distanced himself from the Vatican-backed deal and ensuing investigation.
On Monday, his office released a statement in response to the FT’s story saying “it should be noted that Mr. Conte only gave a legal opinion and was not aware of, and was not required to know, the fact that some investors were connected to an investment fund supported by the Vatican and now at the center of an investigation.”
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Vatican City, Jun 5, 2020 \/ 11:15 am (CNA).- The Catholic Church cannot be an authentic witness to unity in diversity if it only mirrors the divisions found in society, Cardinal Kurt Koch said Friday.
Koch told CNA June 5: “The Second Vatican Co… […]<\/a>
For added perspective: in the 11th Century the Sejug Turks temporarily displaced the Saracens in Jerusalem and blocked Christian pilgrim caravans from access to holy sites; in the 21st Century jihadist Iran blocks Western oil tanker caravans routes through Hormuz to sites of wholly oil (so to speak).
Welcome to \u201cmodernity\u201d and things both ancient and up to date.
Edit: \u201cSeljug\u201d (westbound invaders, having first won the historic Battle of Manzikurt in A.D. 1071).
Pope Leo needs to stay out of politics and injecting himself into secular matters. If he wants to engage in politics, he should step away from the papacy and run for elective office somewhere (maybe China).
Isn’t it strange that people feel compelled to inject themselves into politics? It’s like a compulsion. People never stop for a moment to ask themselves, “do I really need to comment about this?”
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