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A Note on the Brink of War, or Maybe Not

A Note on the Brink of War, or Maybe Not

Last updated on: April 7, 2026 at 3:50 pm by Mary Pezzulo

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A Note on the Brink of War, or Maybe Not 2026-04-07T15:50:31-04:00 Mary Pezzulo

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a hand, likely meant to be Trump's, in an ill-fitting blue suit, reaching out to tap a big red button.

image via Pixabay

As I am writing this, it is three o’clock Eastern daylight time, in the afternoon on Easter Tuesday, and I don’t know what will happen with the Iran war tonight.

As am I writing, the president is still adamant that he’s going to kill “a whole civilization” at eight o’clock PM Eastern. Theoretically, if he can be trusted, we have five hours. But I have no idea whether he’ll follow through on his threat or not.

This, to me, is the most frustrating thing about the past ten years: when the president says a thing, we have no idea whether he’ll actually do it, or do the opposite, or do something so random that it couldn’t have been predicted. Maybe there will be a nuclear event in the Middle East tonight. Maybe there’ll be an escalation of the bombing but not as bad as we thought. Maybe Trump will lie that the negotiations are going well and extend the deadline once more. Maybe he’ll forget about Iran and go bomb Cuba. I have no idea, and neither do you.

Whatever happens, I know that the remaining diehard MAGA will praise him for it. The number of the president’s supporters is finally dwindling, as I expected it would in 2018 or 2022. But there will always be some. I can’t argue with those people anymore. They’re not behaving rationally and they refuse to behave rationally, because they’re in a cult. A third of the country is completely insane and I can’t do anything about it. If they ever come to their senses, I hope they’re humiliated. I hope that nobody ever, ever believes the so-called pro-life movement again. They aren’t pro-life. Nobody who supports genocide can call themselves pro-life and mean it.

Even if nothing happens tonight, a man with access to the nuclear codes taunting that he’s going to destroy a civilization is terroristic to the entire world. It’s like an abusive husband slowly taking off his belt, but this particular abusive husband is married to everybody on earth. Any one of us could suffer if he decided he wanted to make us, and he knows it, and he’s exalting in the cruelty. I shouldn’t have to say that that’s unacceptable.

I want to draw your attention to Pope Leo’s remarks from just a few moments ago:

“This is truly not acceptable. Here there are certainly questions of international law, but even more than this a question of morality for the good of people…. Attacks on civilian infrastructure are against international law, but it is also against sign of the hatred and division that we are capable of. I would invite the citizens of all the countries involved to contact the authorities—political leaders, congressmen—to ask them, to tell them, to work for peace and to reject war and violence.”

I also want to echo what Archbishop Coakley said on behalf of the USCCB: “The threat of destroying a whole civilization and the intentional targeting of civilian infrastructure cannot be morally justified. There are other ways to resolve conflict between peoples. I call on President Trump to step back from the precipice of war and negotiate a just settlement for the sake of peace and before more lives are lost. After his resurrection, Jesus appeared to his disciples in Jerusalem, and his first words were ‘Peace be with you.’ As the Holy Father, in his Urbi et Orbi message on Easter reflected, the peace that ‘Jesus gives us is not a peace that merely silences the weapons, but one that touches and transforms the heart of each us! Let us make heard the cry for peace that springs from our hearts!’”

When God said “thou shalt not murder,” He meant it.

War is hell, and Christians are supposed to not want hell.

You’re actually supposed to stand up for life instead of killing.

You’re also not supposed to torture people by taunting that you’re going to kill them just to make yourself feel powerful.

I can’t help but think of all the people over the last ten years who have informed me I’m going to hell for supporting murder, because I campaigned against Trump and begged everyone to vote for somebody else. They were talking about abortion. Abortion was the only form of killing they cared about, and they thought Trump would stop it. In fact, abortion rates started rising in 2017. They are now at their highest rate since 2009, exactly steady with what they were in 2024. Nothing good has happened, and now we may be on the precipice of World War Three.

I pray this crisis will be averted.

And time will tell what happens next.

Mary Pezzulo is the author of Meditations on the Way of the Cross, The Sorrows an d Joys of Mary, and Stumbling into Grace: How We Meet God in Tiny Works of Mercy.

Steel Magnificat operates almost entirely on tips. To tip the author, donate to “The Little Portion” on paypal or Mary Pezzulo on venmo

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