Iranian state media reports the parents of schoolchildren killed in the bombing of a school in February have written to the Pope thanking him for calling for peace, and to urge him to continue to speak up for “voiceless” children.
Pope Leo XIV has been public in his calls for peace, and has clashed with Donald Trump – putting the president at odds with many American Catholics.
Rescue workers search through the rubble of the destroyed school in Minab, Iran, in February.AP
Iranian news agency IRNA reported a letter will be sent to the pontiff from the families of children killed in the strike on a school in southern Iran. The New York Times previously reported the February bombing was most likely a US military error as the school building was close to a military target, according to preliminary internal reports.
“We are the fathers and mothers of 168 children who, these days, instead of hugging the warm bodies of our children, are clutching their burnt bags and bloody notebooks to our chests; innocent children whose only crime was smiling in the classroom,” the letter said, according to IRNA.
“When the terrible sound of explosions closed the ears of the world to our cries, the echo of your (the Pope’s) peaceful words became a balm for our endless wounds.”