US officials are continuing to defend military action against Iran despite increasingly pointed criticism from senior Catholic leaders. The White House and Pentagon were still publicly presenting the campaign as a success whilePope Leo XIV, Cardinal Pietro Parolin and Archbishop Paul S. Coakley all urged restraint and renewed calls for peace.
The latest dispute comes against the background of a temporary ceasefire agreed on 7 April. The truce has already been clouded by subsequent Israeli strikes in Lebanon and by disagreement over the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, whose disruption sent oil prices sharply higher and rattled global markets.
