Pope Leo XIV urged the United States and Iran to return to talks to end the war on Thursday, in a wide-ranging press conference en route home from his trip to Africa.
Leo also asserted that countries have the right to control their borders but mustn't treat migrants worse than "animals."
After a trip that was dominated by the very public back and forth between Leo and U.S. President Donald Trump over the war, the pope urged the U.S. and Iran to return to negotiations.
He called for a new "culture of peace" to replace the recourse to violence whenever conflicts arise.
He said the question wasn't whether the Iranian regime should change or not. "The question should be about how to promote the values we believe in without the deaths of so many innocents."
