ROME (AP) — Pope Leo XIV amplified his condemnation of the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran on Friday, saying that “God does not bless any conflict” and certainly doesn’t side with those who drop bombs.
Leo spoke during a gathering of top bishops of the Chaldean Catholic Church in Iraq, an Eastern Rite Catholic church whose clerics are in Rome to elect a new patriarch.
Leo said they were signs of hope “in a world marked by senseless and inhuman violence," especially in the lands of early Christianity that have been "desecrated by the blasphemy of war and the brutality of business, with no regard for people’s lives.”
He told them that no cause can justify the spilling of innocent blood, and he urged them “to proclaim clearly that God does not bless any conflict; to cry out to the world that whoever is a disciple of Christ, the Prince of Peace, never stands on the side of those who yesterday wielded the sword and today drop bombs.”
To drive the message home, the Vatican posted the quote on Leo's official @Pontifex handle on X.
Leaders have used religion to justify their actions in the war. U.S. officials and especially Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth have invoked their Christian faith to justify the conflict and cast the U.S. as a Christian nation trying to vanquish its foes.
After issuing muted appeals for peace and dialogue during the first weeks of the conflict, Leo stepped up his criticism of the Trump administration starting on Palm Sunday, when he said God doesn’t listen to the prayers of those who make war.
This week, he said President Donald Trump’s threat to annihilate Iranian civilization was “truly unacceptable” and called for dialogue to prevail.
The Vatican is particularly concerned about the spillover of Israel's war against Hezbollah in Lebanon, given the plight of Christian communities in the south.
Leo on Saturday will preside over a special vigil prayer for peace in St. Peter's Basilica. The vigil was organized before the announcement of high-level talks between the U.S. and Iran, which are expected to start Saturday in Pakistan.
Despite the pope's increasingly critical tone, both the Holy See and the U.S. government appeared eager Friday to tamp down suggestions of frayed relations. Those suggestions were fueled this week by a news report of an allegedly contentious meeting in January between the Pentagon and the Vatican’s outgoing ambassador to Washington, Cardinal Christophe Pierre.
The Jan. 22 meeting occurred well before the war, but after the Chicago-born Leo had issued a strong but veiled criticism of U.S. military intervention in a major foreign policy address to diplomats accredited to the Holy See.
In a rare official comment on a media report, the Vatican on Friday said Pierre’s attendance at the Pentagon meeting was part of his “regular duties and provided an opportunity to exchange views on matters of mutual interest.” The suggestion that the meeting was acrimonious “does not correspond to the truth in any way,” the statement said.
The U.S. Embassy to the Holy See quickly thanked the Vatican for its statement.
The Chaldean Catholic Church represents more than a million Aramaic-speaking Christians who are primarily from Iraq. Its top clerics are electing a patriarch to replace Iraqi Cardinal Louis Sako, 76, who had led the church since 2013.
Leo on March 11 announced Sako’s retirement, on the same day he accepted the resignation of a U.S.-based Chaldean bishop, Bishop Emanuel Shaleta. Shaleta had pleaded not guilty a day earlier to 16 felony counts alleging he embezzled $270,000 from his California parish.
In his comments to the Chaldean bishops Friday, Leo made several references to the challenges they have faced in recent years.
He thanked Sako for his “ significant contributions ” but said now was a time for “spiritual renewal,” with newfound adherence to faith, preservation of tradition and observation of obedience and chastity.
“I urge you to be attentive and transparent in the administration of goods, sober, measured, and responsible in the use of mass media, and prudent in public statements, so that every word and action may contribute to building up — and not to harming — ecclesial communion and the church’s witness,” he said.
Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.
Pope Leo XIV delivers his speech during his weekly general audience in St. Peter's Square, at the Vatican, Wednesday, April 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
Pope Leo XIV blesses faithful as he starts his weekly general audience in St. Peter's Square, at the Vatican, Wednesday, April 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
LAS VEGAS (AP) — Mitch Marner isn't about to start bragging, to express any kind of feelings of vindication in proving wrong those who questioned and even doubted whether he could deliver at this time of year.
There has indeed been magic in Marner's play as he leads the Vegas Golden Knights into their Western Conference final series that opens Wednesday night at Colorado.
His 18 points led all NHL skaters through Sunday and includes possibly the goal of the year in Thursday's 5-1 close-out victory at Anaheim.
This production is what his hometown Maple Leafs expected when Toronto drafted him fourth overall in 2015. While Marner became one of the NHL’s top play-making forwards, he took the brunt of criticism for the Leafs failing to advance beyond the second round.
“I don't care what anyone says,” Marner said. “I've been in the league a long time now, so I'll focus on what I can control.”
That includes leading the Golden Knights to the NHL's final four.
“I think the media in Toronto is pretty big and they put a lot of pressure on the players,” Golden Knights wing Ivan Barbashev said. “He's showing completely different things over here. He's been scoring and making a lot of plays, so hopefully he stays the same way.”
Vegas has never been afraid to chase big names and it has a locker room full of such players. Acquiring Marner in a sign-and-trade was the splash deal of last year's offseason, reaching an agreement on an eight-year, $96 million contract.
This postseason is why the Golden Knights pursued him. They followed their 2023 Stanley Cup title team by getting bounced in the first round the following year and the second round last season.
Marner produced two goals and an assist in Game 6 of the opening series to eliminate Utah 5-1. He had a hat trick and an assist to take back home-ice advantage in Game 3 of Round 2 at Anaheim, and ended that series by setting the tone with a goal 1:02 into the Game 6 clincher that few players on the planet could execute.
William Karlsson began by hitting Marner in stride with a perfect stretch pass to spring the breakaway. But with Jackson LaCombe staying with Marner, he fought off the Ducks defenseman, turned his back to the goal and shot the puck between his legs to put Vegas ahead 1-0.
“His IQ is on a different level,” Barbashev said. “He plays defensively and is a 200(-foot) player. He does it all.”
John Tortorella, who became the Golden Knights coach with eight games left in the regular season, sees the same thing about Marner.
“When you're with him every day, you can see his habits," Tortorella said. "You can see the little things he does in the game. Other people see his goals and assists, maybe like the goal he scored the other night. I look at the small things. A lot of people don't realize how the small things turn to bigger things.”
Tortorella, like Bruce Cassidy before him, hasn't been afraid to use Marner in a number of ways, be it at center or wing, the first line or the second.
When the Golden Knights ran a five-forward power play, Marner was the quarterback at the top. Now with defenseman Shea Theodore in that spot with the top unit, the Golden Knights have deployed Marner down lower to better use his ability to score or help someone else find the back of the net.
“There’s even games where the other team carries the game, and they come out on top because of their patience and play-making ability, and Marner has a lot to do with that,” Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said. “Power play, short-handed, five-on-five, he plays all situations and is dangerous in all of them.”
It's not that Marner didn't play at a high level in Toronto. He scored a career-high 102 points in the 2024-25 season, one of four times he topped 90.
He also produced 13 points in 13 playoff games last year and 14 points in 11 postseason games two years earlier.
But the Maple Leafs as a team didn't play up to expectations, and thus the deal to send Marner to Vegas. Now the Golden Knights are a series away from potentially competing in their third Stanley Cup Final in their nine years in the league, and the Maple Leafs failed to reach the playoffs but won the draft lottery.
Maybe there's another Marner in their future.
“I've always believed I'm a good player," Marner said. “I'm not thinking of anything, just go out there and try to play hockey.”
AP Sports Writer Pat Graham in Centennial, Colorado, contributed to this report.
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Vegas Golden Knights right wing Mitch Marner, second from left, celebrates his goal with goaltender Carter Hart during the first period in Game 6 of a second-round NHL hockey Stanley Cup playoff series against the Anaheim Ducks, Thursday, May 14, 2026, in Anaheim, Calif. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
Vegas Golden Knights right wing Mitch Marner, second from right, celebrates after scoring on Anaheim Ducks goaltender Lukas Dostal, left, during the first period in Game 6 of a second-round NHL hockey Stanley Cup playoff series Thursday, May 14, 2026, in Anaheim, Calif. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
Vegas Golden Knights goaltender Carter Hart, left, and right wing Mitch Marner congratulate each other after the Golden Knights defeated the Anaheim Ducks in Game 3 of a second-round NHL hockey Stanley Cup playoff series Friday, May 8, 2026, in Anaheim, Calif. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
