Rabbi Eliezer Weisz sent a sharply worded letter to Pope Leo XIV urging the Vatican to explicitly condemn the use of churches and other places of worship for military purposes during armed conflicts.
The Rabbi appealed directly to the pope’s “moral leadership" over what he described as a growing erosion of the sanctity and neutrality of sacred spaces in war zones. He cited the pope’s own message for the 2026 World Day of Peace, in which the pontiff called on religious communities to ensure that places of worship remain “houses of peace."
Weisz argued that this principle is being undermined when armed groups use churches and religious sites for tactical purposes during combat.
As an example, the rabbi pointed to a recent incident in southern Lebanon near the village of Qawzah, where Israeli reservist Major Itamar Sapir was killed during fighting involving Hezbollah operatives.
According to the letter, Sapir and his unit had been operating under strict orders to avoid military action near a local church out of respect for the holy site. Weisz claimed that a Hezbollah operative then used the church as cover to fire on Israeli troops.
“When armed groups choose to operate within or adjacent to these structures - using them for tactical positioning, weapons storage, or cover - they strip these sanctuaries of their neutral status and drag them directly into the line of fire," the rabbi wrote.
The letter stressed that any unintended damage caused by Israeli military operations is, according to the rabbi, subject to “strict military accountability" and investigation. However, he argued that the challenge becomes far greater when combatants intentionally exploit holy sites as shields.
Weisz called on the Vatican to move beyond general appeals for peace and instead issue what he described as an “explicit, unambiguous condemnation" of any party that uses churches or places of worship for military activity. “The sanctity of a church cannot exist only on paper. It requires absolute separation from hostilities in practice."