US bishops’ president to Trump: “Step back from the precipice of war”

Washington - Archbishop Paul S. Coakley, president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, has issued a direct appeal to President Donald Trump, urging him to step back from the “precipice of war” and open the way to negotiations capable of leading to a just settlement. His words come amid growing concern over a possible intensification of military action, with the risk that civilian infrastructure in Iran could also be targeted.
Coakley spoke in unmistakably clear terms, recalling the moral responsibility borne by those who exercise political and military power. “The threat of destroying a whole civilisation and the intentional targeting of civilian infrastructure cannot be morally justified,” he said, adding that there are “other ways to resolve conflict between peoples”. Hence his call for the President of the United States to step back before the human cost rises further. The archbishop’s intervention follows the line of the appeals made by Pope Leo XIV …