In call, Pope urges Herzog to pursue ‘all paths of dialogue’ to end Iran war

Pope Leo XIV and President Isaac Herzog spoke on the phone Friday, their respective offices said, to mark the holidays of Passover and Easter and discuss the ongoing Iran war.

The pope and Herzog “reaffirmed the need to reopen all possible channels of diplomatic dialogue to bring an end to the serious ongoing conflict, with a view to achieving a just and lasting peace throughout the Middle East,” a statement from the Vatican said.

Israel launched its campaign against Iran, alongside the US, to degrade the Iranian regime’s military capabilities, distance threats posed by Iran — including its nuclear and ballistic missile programs — and “create the conditions” for the Iranian people to topple the regime, the military and other Israeli leaders have said.

The pope, who has emerged as a sharp critic of the regional conflict, urged Herzog to protect civilians and promote respect for international and humanitarian law, the Vatican added.

In its own readout of the call, Herzog’s office said the two exchanged greetings for Passover and Easter before discussing the Iran war, “including the ongoing threat of missile attacks by the Iranian regime and its terror proxies against people of all faiths in the region.”

Herzog’s office said the two discussed recent Iranian missile attacks on Jerusalem “that fell in the area of sites holy to Christians, Muslims and Jews.”

The two also discussed the situation in Lebanon, where Israel is fighting the Hezbollah terror group after it joined the conflict by launching rocket and drone attacks on Israel, focusing on “the importance of the safety and security of Christian communities on both sides of the border,” Herzog’s office said.

The two spoke as the pontiff was observing the Catholic Holy Week leading up to Easter on Sunday, and while Herzog was marking Jewish Passover into next week.

The call took place a day after Catholic leaders led Holy Thursday prayers at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem without public attendance as the city’s major holy sites continued to be closed due to the ongoing Iran war. The prayers came after police, citing the danger of Iranian missile fire, caused an international uproar on Sunday by preventing Latin Patriarch Pierbattista Pizzaballa from performing the Palm Sunday mass at the Old City church, in what he called the first time “in centuries.”

The pope, who is known for choosing his words carefully, has repeatedly called for an immediate ceasefire in the conflict and said on Monday that military airstrikes are indiscriminate and should be banned.

Leo also called on world leaders earlier this week to “come back to the table to dialogue,” saying he hoped that US President Donald Trump was “looking for an off-ramp.”

On Palm Sunday, he said that God rejects the prayers of leaders who start wars and have “hands full of blood,” in an address to tens of thousands of people in St. Peter’s Square.