As conflict continues to devastate the Middle East, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem said during a March 15 webinar that using God’s name to justify war is a grave sin.
“The abuse and manipulation of God’s name to justify this and any other war is the gravest sin we can commit at this time,” Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa said, according to AsiaNews. “War is first and foremost political and has very material interests, like most wars. We must do everything we can to leave no room for this pseudo-religious language, which speaks not of God, but of ourselves.”
The cardinal, based in the Holy City, delivered his remarks during a webinar organized in Italy by the International Oasis Foundation. According to AsiaNews, he was asked about comments by U.S. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, who quoted Psalm 144 during a briefing, praying for victory in the ongoing attack on Iran.
Cardinal Pizzaballa said, “As believers we must do everything possible not to leave the discourse to them. We need to say that no, there are no new crusades.”
“If God is present in this war, He is among those who are dying, who are suffering, who are in pain, who are oppressed in various ways, throughout the Middle East – I am not saying on one side or the other,” he said, according to AsiaNews. “This conflict has religious connotations, but they are manipulations: those who wish to bring religion into it exploit the name of God.”
Evident from the past several decades of conflict, violence has produced human devastation and a sustainable future cannot be built on it, according to the cardinal.
“What is built on violence perishes; it has no future, but it also creates a void around itself: fear, resentment, hatred — all that which, in Christian language, belongs to the world of death,” he said. “It does not allow you to see anything beyond yourself.”
Earlier that day, Pope Leo XIV appealed during his Sunday Angelus address for a ceasefire, a call he has made several times before.
Cardinal Pizzaballa said during the webinar the Pope’s appeal “is very true” though “it will fall on deaf ears.” However, he implied that this does not mean the Pope should stop calling for peace.
“But what use is a Church if not to speak of a reality that does not yet exist? We must continue to say these things that may seem far-fetched, but in which we believe because they are true,” he said. “We also need to come together, to know who we can count on and invest in for the future.”
Though global attention has now turned to the U.S. and Israel-Iran conflict, Cardinal Pizzaballa, who has also been a shepherd to the only Catholic parish in Gaza, Holy Family Parish, also warned during the webinar that Gaza is facing a dire humanitarian crisis. He expressed concern that Gaza has been forgotten.
AsiaNews reported that there is no longer an issue of hunger in Gaza but a lack of basic medicine remains pervasive. Reconstruction has not begun, two million people are still displaced, and many citizens are literally living in sewers, according to the cardinal. The conflict between Hamas and Israel remains at a standstill; Israel will not withdraw until Hamas disarms, and Hamas refuses to disarm until Israel withdraws.
Cardinal Pizzaballa added that in the West Bank, “the situation is deteriorating constantly.”
“Almost every day there are attacks by settlers on Palestinian villages,” he said. “There are now almost a thousand checkpoints; Palestinians still struggle to move about, and permits have largely been cancelled.”
Zeale News has previously reported on growing concerns for communities in the West Bank as Israeli settler attacks reportedly worsen.