“We’ve totally demolished Kharg Island, but we might hit it a few more times, just for fun. We have totally decimated it.” The words of Donald Trump, who rejects the attempts at mediation for a truce offered by the Gulf countries, pushes a possible end to the war away. The American president, indeed, relaunches and would like France, Great Britain, China, Japan, South Korea and “other countries”, not better specified, “affected by this artificial restriction” to enter the war with him, he writes, referring to the Iranian blockade of the Strait of Hormuz through which much of the world’s crude oil passes. He calls for “the sending of warships” to drag other nations into the conflict. Italy, at the moment, refuses and looks forward. After the Supreme Defense Council, urgently assembled by the head of state Sergio Mattarella, last Friday, reiterated that «Italy does not participate and will not participate in the war»our country is looking for ways to de-escalation. «The Council», read the statement issued at the end of the meeting with the President of the Republic, «has found with concern that the crisis of the international order, centered on the UN, with the multiplication of unilateral initiatives weakens the multilateral system also in the face of common challenges such as the actual security reasons linked to the risk of Iran developing nuclear weapons, those relating to the security of Israel and its citizens, the condemnation of the Tehran regime and its inhumane repression”. And he underlined that «in the current context of instability – irresponsibly opened by Russia’s aggression against Ukraine – with the progressive lacerations of peaceful international coexistence, the weakening of multilateral institutions and the numerous violations of international law, Italy is committed to researching and supporting every effort that brings the negotiating and diplomatic path back to the forefront.”
If Italy and Europe try to avoid the spread of the conflict, Trump and Netanyahu, on the contrary, add fuel to the fire. The Israeli prime minister, speaking to the nation on state television, openly supported his desire to «transform Israel into a superpower against Islam.” Arguing that, «with the war against Iran we will witness the return of the Messiah»Netanyahu speaks to that part of the population, the messianists, who claim that it can be done accelerate the coming of the Messiah by conquering the entire Palestinian territory, including the West Bank and expanding towards parts of Lebanon and Syria, erasing all other religions from the area and rebuilding the third temple of Jerusalem where the Al Aqsa mosque stands today. A sort of “holy war” waged, in the name of religious fanaticism, against other religions. By destroying “Sunni and Shiite Islam which are a threat to the world”, says the Israeli prime minister, “we will see the return of the Messiah but it will not happen next Thursday”.
For his part, the American Secretary of State, Marco Rubbio, who last year appeared on TV on Ash Wednesday with a conspicuous black cross on his forehead, declared that the war must continue in Iran because the country is “led by religious fanatics».
Whoever is not willing to involve religions in a war that seems to be aimed instead at global control of oil, instead they are precisely the world leaders of religions. Starting with Bishop Yehiel Curry, president of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA)who criticized the action against Iran, explaining that “The Church of Jesus Christ is called to proclaim the peace of the eternal kingdom of God and to work for an earthly peace here and now.” The existence of Peace, he recalled, “depends on leaders who give priority to diplomacy over military commitment and deterrence over warand by the citizens to whom the Government must be accountable before considering military action.”
The bishop speaks of «failure of the war» recalling that «the costs in terms of human lives and safety of this failure will be borne by those who can least avoid it: children, families and those who do not have the means to escape. Its deadly toll has been paid, and will continue to be paid, with the lives of our neighbors, including our brothers in Christ in the Middle East.” For this reason he claims «the urgent need for robust and well-funded diplomatic and humanitarian efforts. Our companions in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land have asked our Church to pray fervently for peace and security and to uphold the dignity and security of all people.”
Catholic episcopal conferences around the world have also moved and are moving. The Archbishop of Chicago, Blase J. Cupich, Archbishop of Chicago, had called it “disgusting and nauseating” the White House video «Justice the American way» that Trump had posted immediately after the attack on Iran. «This horrific depiction in which a real war with real death and real suffering is treated like a video game demonstrates that we live in an age where the distance between the battlefield and the living room has been drastically reduced. War has now become a spectator sport or a game of strategy». The cardinal Robert W. McElroy, Archbishop of Washington, condemned the United States’ decision to go to war with Iran as “morally not legitimate. The US was not responding to an existing or imminent and objectively verifiable Iranian attack. As Pope Benedict has categorically stated, Catholic doctrine does not support preventive war, that is, war justified by speculation about future events. If preventive war were morally accepted then all limitations to the cause for going to war would be put in extreme jeopardy.” And again, after being received in audience by Pope Leo, the cardinal reiterated that the Trump government must «take a step back from strategies and objectives that put world peace at risk. Enough with partisan categories that encourage polarization and destructive policies.”
He then spoke for all the American bishops Archbishop Paul S Coakley, president of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops: «The growing conflict risks turning into a broader regional war»he stated asking that return to “multilateral diplomatic commitment” to avoid “a tragedy of immense proportions”. The bishops also asked that Catholics pray for leaders to choose “dialogue over destruction.”
They moved there too Argentine Episcopal Conference, among the first to react to the war which it defined as “shocking”. “Violence,” he reiterated, “is never a way to resolve conflicts and only brings destruction.” Catholics, however, on the basis of what Pope Francis has preached and Pope Leo continues to do, must become “artisans of peace and must work towards the cessation of all conflict”
There Australian Catholic Bishops’ Conference condemned an intervention that brings “the loss of life and fear and uncertainty among ordinary people and the destabilization of an already fragile region”.
There Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India she said she was “deeply concerned about the growing tensions and ongoing conflicts” and asked that political leaders “consciously choose peace over violence because violence and conflict only generate further suffering and desperation”.
There North African Episcopal Conference he denounced that «war is never the path to peace: it is always its failure. And, taking up what was declared by the Christian communities in Morocco, he underlined that Christians “reject with all the strength of the Gospel the use of violence and war as a method for resolving conflicts between peoples and nations”.
There Federation of Asian Episcopal Conferences called for the “immediate cessation of hostilities” because “peace cannot be built on threats or weapons that sow destruction, pain and death”.
Among the positions taken, many of those of the European episcopates, that of the Catholic Episcopal Conference of Southern Africa which expressed “heartfelt condolences to the bereaved families, to the Shiite community and to the Iranian people” for the death of the Shiite leader. Calling for an end to the conflict, they recalled Pope Leo’s words for “reasonable, sincere and responsible dialogue”.
And exactly Pope Leo was sent a letter from the Iranian religious authorities asking him to take a position openly condemning “the brutal American-Zionist crimes against the Iranian nation”. The message, made known by the media of the Republic of Iran and signed by Ayatollah Alireza Arafidirector of Iranian religious seminaries and former member of the Interim Leadership Council established later the death of the Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, defined his killing as “very serious”. «An unprecedented crime in the history of religions, an insult to all followers of divine religions». A letter which, together with a hint of dialogue, also seems to contain a veiled threat. Khamenei, according to Arafi, was “a staunch supporter of the rights of minorities, especially Christians in Iran.” Targeting him “represents a dangerous precedent that could make it legitimate to target other religious leaders in the future.”
