From the wounded lands of Persia, at the heart of a region ravaged by twelve days of clashes between Israel and Iran, the voice of Cardinal Dominique Joseph Mathieu, Latin Archbishop of Tehran-Isfahan, rises with the strength of a faithful shepherd in a time of war. In a third meditation from what he calls his war journal, the Archbishop reflects on the trial his Church is enduring, while delivering a firm message of peace rooted in truth.
The conflict, triggered by Israel, quickly escalated to the point of requiring direct intervention from the United States—first military, then diplomatic—resulting in a truce imposed by the White House since yesterday. A fragile truce, as the Cardinal points out, since this lull was achieved without a genuine agreement between the belligerents, but only under the pressure of deterrence.
“We are far from being able to speak of trust or mutual respect,” he writes with lucidity. In his eyes, this ceasefire rests on no solid foundation, save for the fear of escalation. “Reconciliation is not even being considered,” he observes, noting that the protagonists, including Iran, still claim their right to legitimate defense, including preemptive action.
In this climate of uncertainty, Cardinal Mathieu neither gives in to fatalism nor to a naive peace. He observes that the wounds are still open, families are in mourning, structures are destroyed, and anxiety is omnipresent. But he also testifies to a form of grace: that of a profound solidarity received from around the world.
“The perception of the world has changed,” he confides. “People near and far have shown us their support, sometimes in unexpected ways. This communion of spirit, in the trial, has allowed us to hold fast despite doubt.”
And it is there, at the very heart of this trial, that the Cardinal issues an appeal that only hearts strengthened in faith can understand. He invites us not to sink into fear, but to purify our hearts, to live this trial as an education in authentic peace, rooted in justice and the order willed by God.
“Peace is not merely an absence of gunfire. It is a shared responsibility. It is built in patience, in prayer, in the real commitment to transform the world.”
The normality of daily life—so ardently hoped for by the families of Tehran—cannot return without an interior renewal, he insists. It is not merely a matter of signing papers or aligning diplomatic speeches. According to him, we must commit to building a future where justice and true communion reign, meaning a peace that is not imposed from the outside, but lived from within.
This testimony from a Cardinal, in the heart of the tumult, is both a cry of alarm and a seed of hope. It reminds us that peace is a spiritual fruit before it is a political strategy. And that without the conversion of hearts, any peace imposed by weapons or negotiations will remain ephemeral.
In Tehran, in a tense silence between two bombardments, a Catholic bishop writes by the light of hope. He speaks to the Church, but also to the entire world, to recall this simple and often forgotten truth: peace comes from God, and it is to be built together.