Saint Joseph Catholic Church

He wrote:

As more than 1,000 Iranian men, women and children lay dead after days of bombardment from U.S. and Israeli missiles, the official White House X account on Thursday evening posted a video of scenes from popular action movies spliced with actual strike footage from their war on Iran. The clip was captioned: “JUSTICE THE AMERICAN WAY.”

A real war with real death and real suffering being treated like it’s a video game—it’s sickening. Hundreds of people are dead, mothers and fathers, daughters and sons, including scores of children who made the fatal mistake of going to school that day. Six U.S. soldiers have been killed. They are also dishonored by that social media post. Hundreds of thousands displaced, and many millions more are terrified across the Middle East ...

Journalists now use the term “gamifying” the war to describe this dynamic ... Our government is treating the suffering of the Iranian people as a backdrop for our own entertainment, as if it’s just another piece of content to be swiped through while we’re waiting in line at the grocery store. But, in the end, we lose our humanity when we are thrilled by the destructive power of our military.

“Our hearts are deeply troubled and saddened by what is happening in the Middle East and in the many peripheries of the world, where innocent blood flows,” the bishops said in a March 6 statement. “The news coming from those lands, marked by conflicts, bombings, political tensions and deep wounds between peoples, arouses apprehension and pain in all of us.”

“In the face of these tragedies, the Christian community cannot remain indifferent,” they continued. “The Gospel invites us to be close to those who suffer, to share the burden of the trials of our brothers and sisters and to support with prayer those who live in anguish, fear and uncertainty about tomorrow.”

“Our thoughts turn in a particular way to the Christian communities present in those lands, often small but rich in faith, which for centuries have borne witness to the Gospel in difficult contexts and sometimes marked by persecution and instability,” they added.

The announcement, made March 7, confirmed an earlier announcement by the Prefecture of the Pontifical Household that Pope Leo will celebrate the Holy Thursday evening Mass in the Lateran Basilica, as was customary before the pontificate of Pope Francis.

“No one knows where this war will lead,” Cardinal Louis Raphaël Sako said in an interview with Vatican News. “We are afraid because we are neighbors with Iran, and many Iraqis are Shiite. There is a double concern.”

“We Christians are very worried, because if they start attacking the Nineveh Plains, where there are 50,000 Christians, these people will leave their homes—and this time, they will not return,” he said.

Prime Minister Inga Ruginienė of Lithuania met with Pope Leo XIV and thanked him for his support for Ukraine.

During a visit to the Church of Saint Maria della Presentazione in Rome, Pope Leo spoke with youth, with the sick and elderly, and with parish council members.

Pope Leo XIV celebrated Mass at the Church of Saint Maria della Presentazione in Rome (video) and encouraged the faithful to review their relationship with God this Lent in light of Christ’s encounter with the Samaritan woman at the well (John 4:5-42).

A native of Burkina Faso, Father Relwendé Kisito Ouédraogo was ordained to the priesthood in 2000 and began to work in the Secretariat of State in 2010. Last month, Pope Leo XIV appointed him apostolic nuncio to two nations, the Republic of the Congo and Gabon.

The nuncio’s mission, Cardinal Parolin preached, is to “bring truth and light, peace and unity amid the darkness of sin, division, and falsehood.” The episcopal ordination Mass took place on March 7 at the Marian shrine and basilica in Yagma.