To the Holiness Pope Leo XIV, Supreme Pontiff of the Catholic Church

Your Holiness,
We, the Patriotic Doctors of Iran, write to you with profound sorrow, outrage, and disbelief
regarding the Vatican’s decision to honor Mohammad Hossein Mokhtari, a representative of
the Islamic Republic of Iran.
For millions of Iranians, this regime no longer possesses any political or human legitimacy. It
is a system built upon fear, repression, torture, executions, corruption, religious extremism,
and the blood of innocent people.
Over the past decades, and especially in recent years, the Islamic Republic has brutally
suppressed peaceful protests, imprisoned its opponents, executed innocent children and
adolescents, and killed thousands of brave Iranian men and women whose only demands
were freedom, the restoration of human dignity, democracy, and human rights.
The Iranian people particularly after the nationwide protests and brutal crackdowns of
January 2026, during which nearly 40,000 people lost their lives perceive any honor granted
to officials of this regime as a profound wound and as a disregard for the suffering of
thousands of families who lost their children, parents, and loved ones to the violence of the
Islamic Republic.
The wounds of the Iranian people are deep and have become a collective trauma especially
after this year’s massacre.
Yet the crimes of this regime do not stop at Iran’s borders. For decades, the Islamic Republic
has been associated with the export of extremism, violence, and terrorism across the Middle
East and beyond. Its support for militant groups such as Hezbollah has contributed
significantly to regional instability, sectarian violence, destruction, and the suffering of
countless innocent civilians.
The world has also not forgotten the horrific 1994 bombing of the AMIA Jewish community
centre in Buenos Aires, where 85 innocent people were murdered in one of the deadliest
antisemitic terrorist attacks since World War II. International investigations linked senior
officials of the Islamic Republic to this atrocity.
Email:This regime does not even tolerate freedom of thought or belief. Over the past decades,
numerous Iranians who found spiritual refuge in Christianity or converted to the Christian
faith have been persecuted, imprisoned, tortured, and executed solely because of their
beliefs. Among them were prominent Christian figures such as Haik Hovsepian Mehr, Mehdi
Dibaj, and Tateos Mikaelian, whose murders remain enduring symbols of religious
persecution under the Islamic Republic.
The Church of Jesus Christ stood and continues to stand for compassion, justice, and human
dignity and has historically stood protectively beside the oppressed, not beside the
oppressors.
How, then, can honor be extended to a representative of a regime responsible for so much
suffering, bloodshed, fear, and terror? For the Iranian people, this is not merely a diplomatic
gesture. It is a devastating message. It is a painful betrayal felt by grieving mothers,
imprisoned activists, tortured dissidents, persecuted minorities, and families who have lost
their loved ones to executions and state violence.
History will not remember diplomatic formalities. History will remember who stood with the
oppressed and who chose to legitimize their oppressors.
Today, millions of Iranians continue to fight courageously for a free, democratic, secular, and
peaceful Iran. Many see in Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi a unifying voice for national solidarity,
democracy, and a future free from dictatorship, extremism, and terror.
We respectfully urge Your Holiness and the Vatican to stand with the people of Iran, not with
a regime that has lost its legitimacy through violence, repression, terrorism, and crimes
against humanity.
The Iranian people do not ask for political favouritism. They ask for clarity. They ask for
solidarity with the victims. And they ask that the voice of humanity not be silenced by
diplomatic interests.
With deep sorrow, but also with hope for justice and freedom.
Patriotic Doctors of Iran (PDI)