Shafaqna English- Families of children who were killed in the U.S. bombing of an elementary school in the southern Iranian city of Minab have expressed their gratitude for the pacifist stance of the head of the Roman Catholic Church. They are urging Pope Leo XIV to be the voice for their voiceless children.
In a letter addressed to the Pope, these grieving Iranian families have also requested that he use his influence to ensure that no parent anywhere in the world has to hum a lullaby over the cold stone of their child’s grave.
We write this letter to you with trembling hands and hearts filled with pain, and amidst the ashes and ruins of the school in Minab City in southern Iran, they say in the letter, adding, “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.”
They add in their letter the relief they felt amid the ordeal, saying “when the terrible sound of explosions closed the ears of the world to our cries, the echo of your [the Pope] peaceful words became a balm for our endless wounds.”
Reminding the courageous calls of Leo XIV for world powers to reduce the level of violence and bombings, the families in the letter say that each of words of the Pope was an effort to save children and awaken consciences of the world about rising hatred, violence, and loss of innocent lives.
Sources: IRNA