Hawzah News Agency- Iran's Embassy in the Vatican has issued a powerful statement condemning recent US attacks on the Sirk region in southern Iran, calling on scholars, clerics, and religious leaders of all faiths to break their silence and transform their pulpits and altars into platforms crying out for justice.
The full text of the statement follows:
In the name of God, who honored humanity and sanctified human life—how can one remain silent in the face of innocent blood being spilled? How can one utter the name of God, stand in prayer, and speak of faith and morality, yet fail to hear the cries of mothers weeping over the bodies of their children?
The killing of defenseless human beings—particularly women and children—wherever it occurs and by whatever army or power, is a crime against humanity and an act of rebellion against the sanctity of life. No political authority, no security pretext, and no territorial interest can ever justify the shedding of innocent blood.
Religions came to awaken the human conscience, not to slumber in the face of oppression. The divine prophets were heralds of justice, mercy, and human dignity. How can a home be destroyed upon the heads of children, a mother pulls her child from beneath the rubble, a family be annihilated in an instant, a wedding celebration turned into mourning—while the holders of pulpits, altars, churches, synagogues, and other religious platforms around the world merely stand by and watch?
Before God, the blood of the oppressed requires no identification papers. A slain child, before belonging to any nation or creed, is first and foremost a human being who had the right to live.
A Heavy Burden on Religious Leaders
Today, the responsibility of religious leaders weighs heavily. We call upon the scholars, clerics, and leaders of all religions to break their silence. How can a pulpit or altar that remains mute before the blood of the oppressed ever call people to justice and mercy? Faith finds its meaning only when it stands against injustice, defends the wronged, and places the sanctity of human life above the interests of powers.
O leaders of the world's religions! Today, more than ever, your voice must be the voice of human conscience. Stand together and, without any political consideration, condemn the killing of civilians, women, and children, the displacement of peoples, and the destruction of homes. Courageously demand that the terrorist American government and military halt their cowardly massacres and barbaric targeted attacks on residential areas and innocent civilians. Demand that they respect the sanctity of human life and work toward ending violence and protecting the innocent.
Do not allow religion to become a tool for justifying war. Restore religion as the language of mercy, justice, and refuge for the oppressed.
A Question for the Day of Judgment
Let us remember: on the day when neither power remains, nor position, nor flag, nor border—what will remain before God are human deeds. Perhaps on that day, one of the most terrifying questions will be: when the innocent were being killed and children were dying beneath the rubble, you who could speak—why did you remain silent?
Faith in Christ is not merely a cross around the neck, a candle in a church, or a prayer on the lips. Faith is standing beside the suffering human being—the very human Christ showed us in the face of the hungry, the stranger, the deprived, and the oppressed.
When a child is killed in war, it is not only a mother's heart that breaks; it is as though a part of humanity itself is nailed to the cross. When a home collapses upon a family, when a mother cries out her child's name amid the rubble and receives no answer, a Christian cannot ask which nation, race, or religion that child belonged to. Christ taught us not to search for our "neighbor" within the boundaries of ethnicity or faith.
No Double Standards
Therefore, the killing of civilians, women, and children—by whatever army and power, and in whatever corner of the world—must be condemned with a clear voice and without double standards. One cannot hold the Gospel of love in hand while remaining silent before human suffering. One cannot speak of loving one's neighbor on Sunday and then turn a blind eye to the deaths of children on Monday out of political considerations.
The life of every human being is a creation of God, endowed with a dignity that no earthly power has the right to strip away.
May the churches of the world, rising above political boundaries and sectarian differences, declare with one voice: no child is an enemy; no mother deserves the grief of losing her child; and no victory built upon innocent blood is a victory of Christ or the Gospel.
And perhaps today, the question standing before the conscience of every Christian is the eternal question of the Gospel: when a wounded and suffering human being lies by the roadside, will we pass by—or, like the Good Samaritan, will we stop?
For Christ has called us not to observe human suffering, but to love. And before the blood of the innocent, true love never remains silent.
Embassy of the Islamic Republic of Iran — Vatican
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