Cardinal Suharyo Quotes Pope's Message on Warmongering Leaders
The Archbishop of the Jakarta Archdiocese, Cardinal Ignatius Suharyo, has emphasised that the Catholic Church strongly opposes the war raging in West Asia. The region has been in turmoil since the United States, alongside Israel, launched a war against Iran at the end of February 2026.
Cardinal Suharyo quoted a message delivered by Pope Leo XIV to those inciting conflict during Palm Sunday, just last week.
“With very strong words regarding war, he said, ‘The prayers of leaders who justify war will not be heard by God’,” Suharyo stated after leading the Pontifical Mass for Easter Sunday at Jakarta Cathedral Church on Sunday, 5 April 2026, as quoted from a video statement by the Social Communications Commission of the Jakarta Archdiocese.
Suharyo still recalls when Pope Leo first appeared and delivered his speech as the leader of the global Catholic community from the balcony of St Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican in May 2025. At that time, Suharyo said, the first sentence uttered by Pope Leo was ‘May the peace of the Lord be with you’.
“That means he truly wants to declare that, ‘During my leadership and service as Pope, I will strive for peace’,” Suharyo said.
However, Suharyo reminded that Church leaders do not possess weapons to halt conflicts. “What he has, what the Church has, is moral conviction as an implication of faith,” stated Cardinal Suharyo.
Therefore, Pope Leo XIV issued a strong statement opposing war. Suharyo said that warfare would only bring dire consequences for the world, the earth, and humanity.
He assessed that the war in West Asia and all its horrific impacts represent a violation of international law and the United Nations declarations.
Suharyo stated that Pope Leo has called on Catholics to pray daily for the creation of world peace. The Pope, according to Suharyo, even hoped the war could end before Easter Sunday. However, that did not happen.
“When we encounter the power of darkness manifesting in leaders who are blind with rage, the world becomes like this,” Suharyo said. “But I am certain that amid that darkness, even if not a great light, there is always a small candle illuminating humanity.”
On 29 March 2026, Pope Leo XIV stated that God rejects the prayers of leaders who start wars and have “hands full of blood”. This extraordinarily firm statement was made as the United States-Israel war against Iran entered its second month.
Speaking to tens of thousands of people in St Peter’s Square during Palm Sunday, the celebration that opens the holiest week of the year leading up to Easter for 1.4 billion Catholics worldwide, the Pope said that Jesus cannot be used to justify any war.
“This is our God: Jesus, the King of Peace, who rejects war, whom no one can use to justify war,” said Leo, the first American Pope, to the crowd under the bright sunshine as reported by GMA News.
“[Jesus] does not listen to their prayers of those who wage war, but rejects them, saying: ‘Even though you pray much, I will not listen: your hands are full of blood’,” he said, quoting a Bible verse.
Leo did not specifically name any world leaders, but he has intensified criticism of the US-Israel war against Iran in recent weeks. Some US officials have used Christian language to justify the joint US-Israel attack on Iran on 28 February that triggered the escalation of the war.