A top Vatican official has warned against the erosion of international law and the concept of a “preventive war” on Iran, comments widely seen as critical of potential US-Israeli military action.
Pietro Parolin, Vatican Secretary of State under Pope Leo XIV, described the weakening of international norms as “truly worrying” in an interview published Wednesday on the official Vatican News outlet.
“This erosion of international law is truly worrying: justice has given way to force,” Parolin said.
“If states were to be recognised as having a right to preventive war…. the whole world would risk being set ablaze.”
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The US and Israel have justified military measures as necessary to eliminate perceived missile and nuclear threats from Iran.
Parolin further cautioned that “a multipolarism marked by the primacy of power… is dangerously taking hold,” and called for conflicts to be addressed through diplomacy within multilateral bodies.
“States have the possibility of resolving conflicts in a bloodless and more just way,” he said.
The Vatican official’s remarks echo earlier comments by Pope Leo, who on Sunday warned against a “spiral of violence” in the Middle East.
In a New Year’s message to diplomats at the Vatican in January, the pontiff noted that “war is back in vogue and a zeal for war is spreading.”