Pope Leo XIV called for an end to hostilities in Yemen on Sunday, expressing concern over the grave humanitarian situation in the war-ravaged country and drawing particular attention to the besieged city of Taiz.
Fighting between government forces and Houthi rebels in and around Taiz intensified at the weekend, with the Iran-backed rebels increasing pressure on the beleaguered city and Saudi-backed government forces counterattacking from the air and on the ground.
Yemen’s third-largest city, Taiz is home to more than a million people. It has been under siege almost continually since the country’s civil war began in 2014, with only a brief and partial respite in 2024.
“I am following with concern the grave humanitarian situation in Yemen,” the pontiff said Sunday, “particularly in the city of Taiz, where the population is suffering from a lack of food, water and medical care.”
Humanitarian observers raised the alarm last week, saying water especially was in critically short supply.
“I make a heartfelt appeal for hostilities to cease and for the Yemeni people and all the peoples of the region to be guaranteed the right to live in peace.”
The pope was addressing pilgrims and tourists in St. Peter’s Square after leading them in the Angelus prayer.
The pope also prayed for victims of a terror attack last week in Jordan, gunmen killed at least nine people and wounded dozens of others in an attack on a Greek Orthodox church during a funeral in Karak, roughly 100 miles south of the capital, Amman.
“My prayers go out to all those who were injured or lost their lives last Friday in the terrorist attack on worshippers at the Orthodox Church of Saint George in Hamoud, Jordan,” Leo said.
The pontiff also expressed his “closeness to the community and the entire country, which is known for its peaceful coexistence and respect between different religions.”
No group has taken responsibility for the attack, which observers described as without precedent.
King Abdullah II of Jordan said authorities would “confront the terrorist act that targeted Karak with the harshest penalties.”
“Let us continue to pray together for peace,” the pontiff also said Sunday, inviting all persons of good will to remember especially this week’s gathering in Assisi to mark Saint John Paul II’s 1986 Meeting of Prayer for Peace.
Leo was to attend the 40th anniversary gathering in the Umbrian city on Tuesday, but decided to stay at the Vatican on the advice of his doctors after lung cancer surgery earlier this month.
“Never before has it been so evident that wars, besides sowing death and destruction, impoverish and damage the world,” the pontiff said, praying that “the Lord inspire choices of dialogue and peace.”