Vatican diplomat warns of world ‘set ablaze’ as Iran war goes on

By CathNews New Zealand

March 6th, 2026

Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican secretary of state, presides over a memorial Mass in St Peter's Basilica on April 2, 2025, marking the 20th anniversary of the death of St John Paul II. (CNS photo/Pablo Esparza)

The Vatican’s chief diplomat has warned that the crisis in the Middle East could make the whole world at “risk of being set ablaze”. Source: CruxNow.

In the wake of US and Israeli attacks on Iran and retaliation by the latter, Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin expressed grave concern about the erosion of international law, saying this is “truly worrying”.

“Justice has given way to force; the force of law has been replaced by the law of force, with the conviction that peace can arise only after the enemy has been annihilated,” he told Vatican News on March 4.

“With great sorrow, because the peoples of the Middle East – including the already fragile Christian communities – have once again been plunged into the horror of war, which brutally shatters human lives, brings destruction and drags entire nations into spirals of violence with uncertain outcomes,” Cardinal Parolin said.

When asked by Vatican News explicitly about the US and Israeli attack on Iran, the cardinal did not explicitly address the legitimacy or illegitimacy of the situation, but said peace and security “must be cultivated and pursued through the possibilities offered by diplomacy, especially diplomacy exercised within multilateral bodies, where states have the possibility of resolving conflicts in a bloodless and more just way”.

“When speaking of the causes of a war, it is complex to determine who is right and who is wrong. What is certain, however, is that war will always produce victims and destruction, as well as devastating effects on civilians,” Cardinal Parolin said.

“For this reason, the Holy See prefers to recall the need to use all the instruments offered by diplomacy in order to resolve disputes among states. History has already taught us that only politics – through the hard work of negotiation and attention to balancing interests – can increase trust among peoples, promote development and preserve peace,” he added.

More than 1000 people have been killed in Iran since the war began, stated the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency on March 4, CNN reported.

FULL STORY

Leading Vatican official says war in the Middle East could cause world ‘being set ablaze’ (CruxNow)

Live updates: US says it will strike ‘deeper’ into Iran as war spreads across region (CNN)