Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian attends a press conference in Tehran, Iran, Sept. 16, 2024. Photo: WANA (West Asia News Agency)/Majid Asgaripour via REUTERS

Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian called on Pope Francis to use his influence with Christian governments to stop war in the Middle East, semi-official Fars news agency reported on Wednesday.

“Encourage world leaders, especially Christian governments, to prevent the continuation of aggressions made by the criminal Israeli regime,” Pezeshkian said, in what Fars described as a message to the Pope.

The message was delivered by an Iranian delegation participating in a religious dialogue event held in the Vatican, Iran’s government website said.

Tehran and the Holy See have enjoyed formal diplomatic relations since 1954, and Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in 2022 shared a message to Pope Francis lauding his “stances on consolidating relations between Islam and Christianity.”

Last week, Pope Francis suggested the global community should study whether Israel’s military campaign in Gaza constituted a genocide of the Palestinian people, in some of his most explicit criticism yet of Israel’s conduct in its year-long war.

Israel says accusations of genocide in its Gaza campaign are baseless and that it is solely hunting down Iranian-backed Hamas and other armed terrorist groups.

Pezeshkian added that Tehran was ready to engage constructively with the Vatican to promote peace and justice in the world.

Francis, leader of the 1.4 billion-member Catholic Church, is usually careful not to take sides in international conflicts, and to stress de-escalation. But he has stepped up his criticism of Israel’s conduct in its war against Hamas recently.