Congress expected to consider war powers resolution after US, Israel strikes on Iran March 2, 2026By Kate Scanlon OSV News Filed Under: Conflict in the Middle East, News, U.S. Congress, World News President Donald Trump’s decision to initiate major combat operations against Iran in concert with Israel has raised debate within Congress over its war powers prerogatives. It has also raised questions about the justice of committing the U.S. into a new Middle East war.
Bishops, Christian leaders call for peace, urge diplomacy as Middle East conflict escalates March 2, 2026By Junno Arocho Esteves OSV News Filed Under: Conflict in the Middle East, Feature, News, World News As the United States and Israel continued their campaign against Iran and the newest war continued to spread across the Middle East, bishops and Christian leaders appealed for peace before the conflict escalates any further, with the Catholic Church’s humanitarian giant Caritas saying it “unequivocally” condemns the attacks which would “destabilize” the region.
Pope Leo’s prayer to St. Francis: a call to peace in a divided world March 2, 2026By OSV News OSV News Filed Under: Commentary, Conflict in the Middle East, Vatican As tensions escalate following the Feb. 28 U.S.-Israel strikes on Iran, we share this prayer to St. Francis of Assisi — a timeless intercessor for peace — which Pope Leo XIV shared with leaders of the Franciscan order on the beginning of the 800th anniversary of St. Francis’ death in January 2026.
Sorrow, shock, prayer for Catholics in Middle East as U.S. and Israel strike Iran amid negotiations March 2, 2026By Gina Christian OSV News Filed Under: Conflict in the Middle East, Feature, News, World News Catholics across the Middle East are reeling with shock and sorrow, and responding with prayer, amid joint strikes Israeli and U.S. forces launched on Iran Feb. 28.
Pope Leo warns of ‘irreparable abyss,’ if diplomacy doesn’t take over violence in Iran, Middle East March 2, 2026By Paulina Guzik OSV News Filed Under: Conflict in the Middle East, Feature, News, Vatican, World News Pope Leo XIV issued a fervent appeal for return of diplomacy in “these dramatic hours” in the Middle East and Iran, condemning use of weapons that cause “destruction, pain, and death.”
USCCB president: Prayer, diplomacy needed in Middle East to avert ‘tragedy of immense proportions’ March 2, 2026By Gina Christian OSV News Filed Under: Bishops, Conflict in the Middle East, Feature, News, World News The leader of the U.S. Catholic bishops has echoed Pope Leo XIV’s call for deescalation and dialogue in the Middle East, following the joint attacks on Iran launched Feb. 28 by the U.S. and Israel, which killed Iran’s longtime supreme leader, 86-year-old Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Inviting pilgrims back is more than business, it’s family history, Holy Land shop owners say February 27, 2026By Judith Sudilovsky OSV News Filed Under: Conflict in the Middle East, Lent, News, World News As Lent begins in Jerusalem, the usually crowded streets of the Old City remain quiet, with only a small number of international pilgrims returning after years of disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and the Israel-Hamas war.
Holy See will not join Trump’s ‘Board of Peace’ for Gaza, Cardinal Parolin says February 18, 2026By Kate Scanlon OSV News Filed Under: Conflict in the Middle East, Feature, News, Vatican, World News The Holy See “will not participate” in President Donald Trump’s “Board of Peace” for Gaza, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican’s secretary of state, said Feb. 17, citing “points that leave us somewhat perplexed.”
U.S.-led Board of Peace a ‘colonialist operation,’ Cardinal Pizzaballa says February 17, 2026By Junno Arocho Esteves OSV News Filed Under: Conflict in the Middle East, News, Vatican, World News Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Latin patriarch of Jerusalem, strongly criticized the U.S.-led Board of Peace, an international body chaired by President Donald Trump to oversee the governance and reconstruction of Gaza.
Pope Leo: Let us raise our voices for peace January 28, 2026By OSV News Vatican News Filed Under: Conflict in the Middle East, News, Vatican, World News “I’ll only say that we must pray very much for peace.” Those were the words of Pope Leo XIV given in a brief statement to Italian television as he left Villa Barberini, his residence in Castel Gandolfo, where, as usual, he had spent his Tuesday both resting and working.
Pope evaluating Trump’s invitation to join Board of Peace, Vatican’s secretary of state says January 21, 2026By Junno Arocho Esteves OSV News Filed Under: Conflict in the Middle East, News, Vatican, World News Pope Leo XIV is currently evaluating an invitation by U.S. President Donald Trump to join his “Board of Peace,” an international body chaired by the president to oversee the governance and reconstruction of Gaza, the Vatican secretary of state said.
Israel bans dozens of aid groups from Gaza, including Caritas, drawing condemnation January 2, 2026By Judith Sudilovsky OSV News Filed Under: Conflict in the Middle East, Disaster Relief, News, World News Caritas Internationalis and Caritas Jerusalem are among the 37 international aid organizations that Israel’s Ministry of Diaspora Affairs has banned from operating in Gaza by March 1.
