Smoke billows from an explosion in southwest Tehran on June 16, 2025. Iran’s state broadcaster was briefly knocked off the air by an Israeli strike and explosions rang out across Tehran on June 16 after a barrage of Iranian missiles killed 11 people in Israel on the fourth day of an escalating air war. / Credit: ATTA KENARE/AFP via Getty Images Vatican City, Jun 16, 2025 / 13:19 pm (CNA). Pope Leo XIV renewed the Church’s calls for nuclear disarmament and peaceful dialogue one day after Israel launched missile strikes on Iran.The Holy Father spoke of his growing concerns for the Middle East on Saturday, shortly after delivering a catechesis to pilgrims attending the June 14–15 Jubilee of Sport.“The situation in Iran and Israel has seriously deteriorated,” the pope told pilgrims inside St. Peter’s Basilica. “At such a delicate moment, I wish to strongly renew an appeal to responsibility and reason.”“Our commitment to building a safer world free from the nuclear threat must be pursued through respectful encounters and sincere dialogue,” he insisted. Leo XIV said it is the “duty of all countries” to initiate “paths of reconciliation” and promote solutions — founded on justice, fraternity, and the common good — to build lasting peace and security in the region.“No one should ever threaten another’s existence,” he said. Open warfare between the two Middle East nations entered its fourth day on Monday after Israel launched the initial deadly attack on June 13, just hours after Iran announced plans to activate its third nuclear facility, the Associated Press reported.Both religious and political leaders have urged Israel and Iran to end the increasing military violence, impacting thousands of civilians, and enter into dialogue. Bishop A. Elias Zaidan, chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on International Justice and Peace, echoed Pope Leo’s calls for peaceful solutions in the region. “We urge the United States and the broader international community to exert every effort to renew a multilateral diplomatic engagement for the attainment of a durable peace between Israel and Iran,” Zaidan said on Monday.“The further proliferation of nuclear weapons in the Middle East, as well as this escalation of violence, imperils the fragile stability remaining in the region,” he added.In May, the U.N. censured Iran for not complying with nonproliferation obligations after the International Atomic Energy Agency warned the nations had increased its nuclear stockpile in its latest report.António Guterres, secretary-general of the United Nations, said on X on Saturday: “Israeli bombardment of Iranian nuclear sites. Iranian missile strikes in Tel Aviv. Enough escalation. Time to stop. Peace and diplomacy must prevail.”The number of deaths, injuries, and the displaced in Iran and Iraq are expected to rise as both countries continue to launch ongoing missile strikes and retaliatory attacks.