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<p>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.</p>
<p>"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.</p>
<p>The message was delivered by an Iranian delegation participating in a religious dialogue event held in the Vatican, Iran's government website said.</p>
<p>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".</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>Israel says accusations of genocide in its Gaza campaign are baseless and that it is solely hunting down Iranian-backed Hamas and other armed groups.</p>
<p>Pezeshkian added that Tehran was ready to engage constructively with the Vatican to promote peace and justice in the world.</p>
<p>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.</p>
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היה הראשון לענות דיון כללי זה.
