On War and Peace – NCCI in Solidarity with Pope Leo XIV

Issued in solidarity with all who suffer in conflict

The National Council of Churches in India (NCCI), encouraged by it’s constituent the Christian Union of India (CUI), jointly and unreservedly affirm the bold and prophetic witness of His Holiness Pope Leo XIV in speaking truth to power in the face of escalating global conflict, and in calling the nations of the world to the way of reconciliation, peace and the sanctity of every human life.

In a world under the convulsions of war — where the powerful invoke the name of God to justify devastation, where the language of faith is co-opted to bless weapons and silence conscience — the voice of the Holy Father has rung out with the clarity of the Gospel. In declaring that he does not fear those who would silence the Church’s witness for peace, Pope Leo has stood in the great tradition of Christian prophetic courage: rooted not in political calculation, but in the call of Christ himself.

Joining leaders of different faiths, the World Council of Churches in a joint statement said, “We commit to mobilizing our religious communities to serve as peacemakers, including reaching across conflict lines to fellow religious leaders. We will stand with all who suffer—Palestinian, Iranian, Lebanese, Israeli, peoples of the Gulf States, and others—until violence ends and a just peace is secured.”

We mourn with all those who mourn. We stand in solidarity with the people of Iran, with the long-suffering people of Gaza, with the citizens of Lebanon, with every civilian caught in the crossfire of ambition and ideology, with refugees driven from their homes and their homelands, with families who grieve losses no political declaration will restore. Their suffering is not collateral damage. They are the children of God, and the earth cries out for them.

We are deeply troubled by the spectacle of leaders invoking divine sanction for acts of war, dressing conquest in the garments of righteousness, and turning the cross — symbol of suffering love — into a banner of domination. We recall the words of the Prophet Isaiah, whom Pope Leo has himself cited: “Even though you make many prayers, I will not listen — your hands are full of blood.” The God revealed in Jesus Christ is not the patron of empires. He is the God who became a refugee in Egypt, who was executed by an occupying power, and who rose to pronounce not vengeance but peace.

We call upon the governments of the world, and especially those engaged in or enabling armed conflict, to heed the counsel of the international community, to honour the principles of international humanitarian law, to pursue without precondition the path of dialogue and diplomacy, and to protect civilian lives. We call upon people of faith everywhere to resist the seduction of nationalism dressed as religion, and to recover the radical, peaceable witness of the Gospel.

We affirm that the Church — in all its expressions — is not called to be the chaplain of any nation-state. It is called to be the Body of Christ in the world: a community of reconciliation, a voice for the voiceless, a presence that holds the possibility of another way. In that conviction, we stand with all who, at cost to themselves, continue to say: there is a better way.

May the God of all peace, expressed together as the Triune God, grant wisdom to those who govern, courage to those who speak, and comfort to those who suffer. And may the prayer of our Lord be, at last, fulfilled: that we may all – all of humanity and the whole created order – be one.
 
 
Rev. Dr. Asir Ebenezer

General Secretary,
National Council of Churches in India

14th April 2026