ROME — In his strongest words yet, Pope Leo XIV on Saturday denounced the “delusion of omnipotence” that is fueling the US-Israel war in Iran and demanded political leaders stop and negotiate peace.

Leo presided over an evening prayer service in St. Peter’s Basilica on the same day the United States and Iran began face-to-face negotiations in Pakistan, and as a fragile ceasefire held up.

History’s first US-born pope didn’t mention the United States or President Donald Trump in his prayer, which was planned before the talks were announced. But Leo’s tone and message appeared directed at Trump and US officials, who have boasted of US military superiority and justified the war in religious terms.

“Enough of the idolatry of self and money!” Leo said. “Enough of the display of power! Enough of war!”

In the basilica pews was the archbishop of Tehran, Belgian Cardinal Dominique Joseph Mathieu. The US was represented in the diplomatic corps by its deputy chief of mission, Laura Hochla, the US Embassy said.

In the first weeks of the war, the Chicago-born Leo was initially reluctant to publicly condemn the violence and limited his comments to muted appeals for peace and dialogue. But Leo stepped up his criticism starting on Palm Sunday. And this week, he said Trump’s threat to annihilate Iranian civilization was “truly unacceptable” and called for dialogue to prevail.

On Saturday, Leo called for all people of goodwill to pray for peace and demand an end to war from their political leaders. The evening vigil in Rome, which featured Scripture readings and meditative recitation of the Rosary prayers, was taking place as simultaneous local prayer services were being held in the US and beyond.

Praying for peace, Leo said, was a way to “break the demonic cycle of evil” to build instead the Kingdom of God where there are no swords, drones or “unjust profit.”

“It is here that we find a bulwark against that delusion of omnipotence that surrounds us and is becoming increasingly unpredictable and aggressive,” he said. “Even the holy Name of God, the God of life, is being dragged into discourses of death.”

Some US officials, and especially Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, have invoked their Christian faith to cast the US as a Christian nation trying to vanquish its foes.

Leo has said God doesn’t bless any war, and certainly not those who drop bombs.

The pope, who on March 30 said God rejects the prayers of leaders who start wars and have “hands full of blood,” denounced again on Saturday the use of Christian language to justify war.

“The balance within the human family has been severely destabilized,” said Leo. “Even the holy Name of God, the God of life, is being dragged into discourses of death.”

The Vatican is particularly concerned about the spillover of Israel’s war against Hezbollah in Lebanon, sparked when the terror group joined the conflict, given the plight of Christian communities in the south.

Israel and the US launched their campaign against Iran on February 28 in a bid to destabilize the regime and destroy its nuclear and ballistic missile capacities. Iran responded with missile and drone strikes across the region, and Hezbollah launched rocket barrages and drones at Israel, which itself then began airstrikes in Lebanon as well as a ground operation.

Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.

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