Pope Leo XIV has had a busy week. On Friday, he held a prayer vigil at St. Peter’s, denouncing the “delusion of omnipotence” driving the war in Iran. On Sunday, Donald Trump called him “WEAK on Crime” and “terrible for Foreign Policy” on Truth Social. On Monday, aboard the papal flight to Algeria, Leo told reporters he has “no fear of the Trump administration” and will “continue to speak out loudly against war.” Brave stuff. The head of the Catholic Church going toe to toe with the president of the United States over the Iran war. Real courage.

So where was this courage on Christmas Eve, when Iran’s exiled Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi wrote Leo a personal letter begging him to speak up for Christians being imprisoned, flogged, and threatened with execution by the Iranian regime? The Vatican never answered. The Pope who fears no president apparently fears a theocracy too much to say one word about his own flock rotting in its dungeons. Confronting the democratically elected leader of a Christian nation — that he can do. Confronting the Islamist regime that persecutes his own faithful — that’s a step too far. Priorities.

Last year, the Islamic Republic of Iran sentenced 73 Christians to a combined 280 years in prison. The charges range from “promoting Zionist Christianity” to “propaganda contrary to Islamic law” — which in practice means getting baptized, attending a house church, or owning a Bible. The year before, 96 Christians were sentenced to 263 years. A pregnant woman, Narges Nasri, got sixteen years. A man undergoing chemotherapy got three and a half. Another convert, Yasin Mousavi, got fifteen years — ten for “membership in disruptive groups” (a Christian organization) and five for participating in protests.

The death penalty for apostasy remains on the books. Iran executed over 900 people in 2024, scores of them on religious charges. Even after release, converts face flogging, internal exile, forced Islamic re-education classes, denial of employment and healthcare, and — I kid you not — compulsory grave-digging duties as a form of community service. The Center for Human Rights in Iran reports that imprisonment of Christians jumped sixfold in a single year. A judge told one Christian defendant: “It’s a disgrace that you are even breathing the air in this sacred courtroom.”

This is happening right now, in April 2026, as you read this.

The details of Pahlavi’s letter are worth dwelling on. He didn’t ask Leo for a political statement. He asked him to use diplomatic channels, to say something public about converts seeking communion with the Catholic Church who face torture for the crime of baptism. The Vatican didn’t respond. Two months later, when the United States and Israel struck Iran’s nuclear program, Leo suddenly found plenty to say. He called the war “unjust”, warned of a “tragedy of immense proportions”, called Trump’s rhetoric “truly unacceptable”, announced a prayer vigil, and urged American citizens to phone their congressmen.

Not one word about the Christians in Evin Prison, about Narges Nasri, about the 280 years of cumulative sentences or the floggings or the forced re-education. The Vicar of Christ — the shepherd of the global flock — had nothing to offer Christians being imprisoned and whipped by the very regime he was now rushing to shield from American and Israeli bombs.

A Muslim prince in exile showed more concern for Iran’s Christians than the most prominent Christian leader on earth. Sit with that for a second.

The Middle East Forum’s Giulio Meotti nailed it: Leo’s silence “follows the very cautious and fearful line of his predecessor........

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)