Blessing the Executioner

The Vatican’s recent decision under Pope Leo XIV to honor a representative of the Islamic Republic of Iran was celebrated by Iranian state media as a symbol of global legitimacy and respect for a regime long associated with executions, repression, torture, and the silencing of dissent.

The gesture provoked strong backlash from human rights activists, families of victims, and opponents of the Iranian regime, many of whom viewed it as a symbolic whitewashing of brutality and a disregard for the suffering of countless victims.