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Pope Urges US and Iran to Pursue Dialogue, Restraint

Sabina Castelfranco

   ROME - Pope Francis addressed diplomats at the Vatican and urged the
   United States and Iran to avoid an escalation of the current crisis. In
   his annual "State of the World" speech, the pope urged the U.S. and
   Iran to pursue "dialogue and self-restraint" to avoid a wider conflict
   in the Middle East. He also spoke of his concern for the situations in
   Syria, Yemen and Libya.

   As is custom at the start of the year, Pope Francis addressed
   ambassadors accredited to the Vatican. He offered a somber overview of
   the past year and expressed his concerns for the future. Speaking in
   the frescoed Sala Regia inside the Vatican, the pope said, "Sadly the
   new year does not seem to be marked by encouraging signs, as much as by
   heightened tensions and acts of violence."

   He also said, "Our human family is scarred and wounded by a succession
   of increasingly destructive wars that especially affect the poor and
   those most vulnerable."

   Particularly troubling are the signals coming from the entire Middle
   East region, the pope said, following the heightening of tensions
   between Iran and the United States. Pope Francis said the tensions risk
   "compromising the gradual process of rebuilding in Iraq, as well as
   setting the groundwork for a wider conflict that all of us would want
   to avert."

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