Pope Leo XIV responds to letter from victims of Minab girls’ school strike in Iran

“The issue is not whether there is regime change or not; the issue is how to promote the values we believe in without the death of so many innocent people,” Pope Leo XIV said.

Pope Leo XIV echoed his calls for dialogue and peace between the United States and Iran while expressing grief over the deaths of innocent children killed in a military attack that struck a girls’ elementary school in Minab, Iran.

The Holy Father offered these comments April 23 after he received a letter from parents of girls who died in the strike. More than 150 people were killed in the Feb. 28 strike, which the Defense Department says it is investigating.

“I have just seen a letter from families of children who were killed on the first day of the attack,” Leo said while speaking to journalists on a flight back to Rome after visiting four countries in Africa, according to the Vatican-run Vatican News.

“They speak about how they have lost their children, who died in that event,” he said. “The issue is not whether there is regime change or not; the issue is how to promote the values we believe in without the death of so many innocent people.”

Leo called the situation in Iran “complex” amid the ongoing ceasefire, stating that “one day Iran says yes and the United States says no, and vice versa.” The pope warned: “We do not know where things are heading.”

“This chaotic, critical situation for the global economy has been created, but there is also an entire population in Iran of innocent people suffering because of this war,” he said. “So, on regime change, yes or no: It is not even clear what regime currently exists after the first days of attacks by Israel and the United States on Iran.”

“Rather, I would encourage the continuation of dialogue for peace, that all sides make every effort to promote peace, remove the threat of war, and respect international law,” he said. “It is very important that innocent people are protected, as has not happened in several places.”

The letter from the parents of the victims was published in full by a reporter for Press TV, which is operated by the Iranian government. The letter is written in Farsi.

According to a partial English translation on Press TV, the parents said the pontiff’s consistent advocacy for peace “offered a healing touch to our broken hearts.”

“Today, instead of feeling the warmth of our children’s embrace, we are left to hold onto their charred bags and bloody journals,” the letter said, according to the translation.

“Our children will never return home to build a brighter future, but it is the prayer of us grieving parents that your message to ‘lay down the weapons’ be heard, at a time when the United States and the Israeli regime fuel the flames of these atrocities with their excessive demands,” it added.

When asked for comment, the Defense Department pointed EWTN News to comments made by Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth on April 24 when asked about the pope’s comment on Iran.

“We know what our mission is,” he said. “We know what authority we have. Weʼre very clear about that. We follow the orders of the president.”

“Weʼve got lawyers all over the place, looking at what weʼre doing and why weʼre doing it, and giving us every authority necessary under the Constitution and under our laws to execute it,” he added. “So we feel very confident across the spectrum about what weʼre doing and why weʼre doing it, and the legal justification that weʼre following in order to do it.”

A Defense Department official told EWTN News that the strike on the school in Minab “is currently under investigation” and “more details will be provided [when] they become available.” The Pentagon has not claimed responsibility for the strike.