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Editor’s Note: Some news outlets are reporting Israel’s claim that Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was killed by U.S.-Israeli strikes on Saturday (Feb. 28). The below article was written in June 2025.

(The Conversation) — Ali Khamenei was born in Mashhad, Iran, in 1939, as the second son of a local religious leader, Javad Khamenei, and he grew up in relative poverty.

Iran’s war with neighboring Iraq, led by Saddam Hussein, lasted from 1980 to 1988 and is known in Iran as the “sacred defence”. The war began after an invasion by Iraqi troops on Iranian territory and resulted in around one million deaths across both countries.

This was another significant period in Khamenei’s career. He was active in managing Iran’s defence as the chairman of the supreme council of war support during this period. The council was formed to make sure the country was as prepared as possible during the war and to take measures to mobilise forces and to meet the needs of the war at the battlefront.

He also commanded the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, an elite part of the Iranian armed forces, from 1981. At the end of the war, Khamenei claimed Iran had won a “luminous victory”.

He praised Khomeini for his tactics in the war and said that the supreme leader had realised from the very beginning that it was not an ordinary conflict between two neighbours. “He recognised the enemy and realised that the main enemy is not present in the war, and he recognised that Saddam is just a tool.”

He went on to suggest that this was a war about US regional power and that Saddam Hussein would continue to receive US support.

Rising to supreme leadership

Khamenei became supreme leader in 1989 after the death of Khomeini. He was designated as the new leader by the Assembly of Experts, an 88-member body of Islamic clerics. He ruled in the same style, and with the same type of foreign policy, as his predecessor; looking for allies to offset US power in the region.

The duties designated for the rahbar (supreme leader) are listed in Article 101 of the constitution and range from determining the political direction of the government (in consultation with an advisory committee) to commanding the armed forces to declaring war, peace, and the mobilisation of armed forces to pardoning or commuting sentences upon recommendation of the head of the judiciary.

Khomeini’s conception of Islamic government was centered on the doctrine of the guardianship of “the jurist”, known as velayat-e faqih, and this continued at the heart of the government that followed under Khamenei. This gives the supreme leader extensive powers, including control over the military, judiciary and media.

This doctrine plays a vital role in legitimizing theocratic power in Iran, linking religious authority with the state. Discussion about velayat-e faqih continues within Iranian society as part of an ongoing dialogue between traditional religious authority and civil society.

The question of who might come to power after Khamenei was raised during the grassroots uprising and pro-democracy protests around Iran in 2022 and 2023. It was expected that any transition would take a considerable amount of time, especially if the aim was for a more democratic form of government.

Even though the Israeli attacks on Iran have again sparked discussion of a possible change of leader, the public is focused now on their own safety, and defending Iran, not on political change.

Any external war or threats coming from outside Iran has historically united Iranians against aggressors. This means that the path to democratic change is not likely to be created, or helped, by Israeli air strikes or U.S. threats.

(Sahar Maranlou is a lecturer in law and socio-legal studies at Royal Holloway, University of London. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article. The views expressed in this news analysus do not necessarily reflect those of Religion News Service.)

Editor’s Note: News outlets are reporting that Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was killed by U.S.-Israeli strikes on Saturday (Feb. 28). The below article was written in June 2025.

(The Conversation) — Ali Khamenei was born in Mashhad, Iran, in 1939, as the second son of a local religious leader, Javad Khamenei, and he grew up in relative poverty.

Iran’s war with neighboring Iraq, led by Saddam Hussein, lasted from 1980 to 1988 and is known in Iran as the “sacred defence”. The war began after an invasion by Iraqi troops on Iranian territory and resulted in around one million deaths across both countries.

This was another significant period in Khamenei’s career. He was active in managing Iran’s defence as the chairman of the supreme council of war support during this period. The council was formed to make sure the country was as prepared as possible during the war and to take measures to mobilise forces and to meet the needs of the war at the battlefront.

He also commanded the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, an elite part of the Iranian armed forces, from 1981. At the end of the war, Khamenei claimed Iran had won a “luminous victory”.

He praised Khomeini for his tactics in the war and said that the supreme leader had realised from the very beginning that it was not an ordinary conflict between two neighbours. “He recognised the enemy and realised that the main enemy is not present in the war, and he recognised that Saddam is just a tool.”

He went on to suggest that this was a war about US regional power and that Saddam Hussein would continue to receive US support.

Rising to supreme leadership

Khamenei became supreme leader in 1989 after the death of Khomeini. He was designated as the new leader by the Assembly of Experts, an 88-member body of Islamic clerics. He ruled in the same style, and with the same type of foreign policy, as his predecessor; looking for allies to offset US power in the region.

The duties designated for the rahbar (supreme leader) are listed in Article 101 of the constitution and range from determining the political direction of the government (in consultation with an advisory committee) to commanding the armed forces to declaring war, peace, and the mobilisation of armed forces to pardoning or commuting sentences upon recommendation of the head of the judiciary.

Khomeini’s conception of Islamic government was centered on the doctrine of the guardianship of “the jurist”, known as velayat-e faqih, and this continued at the heart of the government that followed under Khamenei. This gives the supreme leader extensive powers, including control over the military, judiciary and media.

This doctrine plays a vital role in legitimizing theocratic power in Iran, linking religious authority with the state. Discussion about velayat-e faqih continues within Iranian society as part of an ongoing dialogue between traditional religious authority and civil society.

The question of who might come to power after Khamenei was raised during the grassroots uprising and pro-democracy protests around Iran in 2022 and 2023. It was expected that any transition would take a considerable amount of time, especially if the aim was for a more democratic form of government.

Even though the Israeli attacks on Iran have again sparked discussion of a possible change of leader, the public is focused now on their own safety, and defending Iran, not on political change.

Any external war or threats coming from outside Iran has historically united Iranians against aggressors. This means that the path to democratic change is not likely to be created, or helped, by Israeli air strikes or U.S. threats.

(Sahar Maranlou is a lecturer in law and socio-legal studies at Royal Holloway, University of London. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article. The views expressed in this news analysus do not necessarily reflect those of Religion News Service.)

(The Conversation) — Ali Khamenei was born in Mashhad, Iran, in 1939, as the second son of a local religious leader, Javad Khamenei, and he grew up in relative poverty.

Iran’s war with neighboring Iraq, led by Saddam Hussein, lasted from 1980 to 1988 and is known in Iran as the “sacred defence”. The war began after an invasion by Iraqi troops on Iranian territory and resulted in around one million deaths across both countries.

This was another significant period in Khamenei’s career. He was active in managing Iran’s defence as the chairman of the supreme council of war support during this period. The council was formed to make sure the country was as prepared as possible during the war and to take measures to mobilise forces and to meet the needs of the war at the battlefront.

He also commanded the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, an elite part of the Iranian armed forces, from 1981. At the end of the war, Khamenei claimed Iran had won a “luminous victory”.

He praised Khomeini for his tactics in the war and said that the supreme leader had realised from the very beginning that it was not an ordinary conflict between two neighbours. “He recognised the enemy and realised that the main enemy is not present in the war, and he recognised that Saddam is just a tool.”

He went on to suggest that this was a war about US regional power and that Saddam Hussein would continue to receive US support.

Rising to supreme leadership

Khamenei became supreme leader in 1989 after the death of Khomeini. He was designated as the new leader by the Assembly of Experts, an 88-member body of Islamic clerics. He ruled in the same style, and with the same type of foreign policy, as his predecessor; looking for allies to offset US power in the region.

The duties designated for the rahbar (supreme leader) are listed in Article 101 of the constitution and range from determining the political direction of the government (in consultation with an advisory committee) to commanding the armed forces to declaring war, peace, and the mobilisation of armed forces to pardoning or commuting sentences upon recommendation of the head of the judiciary.

Khomeini’s conception of Islamic government was centered on the doctrine of the guardianship of “the jurist”, known as velayat-e faqih, and this continued at the heart of the government that followed under Khamenei. This gives the supreme leader extensive powers, including control over the military, judiciary and media.

This doctrine plays a vital role in legitimizing theocratic power in Iran, linking religious authority with the state. Discussion about velayat-e faqih continues within Iranian society as part of an ongoing dialogue between traditional religious authority and civil society.

The question of who might come to power after Khamenei was raised during the grassroots uprising and pro-democracy protests around Iran in 2022 and 2023. It was expected that any transition would take a considerable amount of time, especially if the aim was for a more democratic form of government.

Even though the Israeli attacks on Iran have again sparked discussion of a possible change of leader, the public is focused now on their own safety, and defending Iran, not on political change.

Any external war or threats coming from outside Iran has historically united Iranians against aggressors. This means that the path to democratic change is not likely to be created, or helped, by Israeli air strikes or U.S. threats.

(Sahar Maranlou is a lecturer in law and socio-legal studies at Royal Holloway, University of London. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article. The views expressed in this news analysus do not necessarily reflect those of Religion News Service.)

VATICAN CITY (RNS) – “The Last Judgment,” Michelangelo’s vast fresco painted into the plaster of the Vatican’s Sistine Chapel is undergoing an extraordinary maintenance process in preparation for Easter, with a team of 20 restorers working in two shifts a day remove a thin milky residue that has built up due to the thousands who come to admire the masterpiece every day.

Barbara Jatta, director of the Vatican Museums, described the coating as “a sort of cataract” to journalists on Saturday (Feb. 28) that flattens the dramatic effect of shadows and light of the roughly 45-by-40-foot fresco.

After it was discovered two years ago, laboratory tests revealed that the coating primarily consisted of calcium lactate, a type of salt formed from the breath of the 17,000 to 20,000 daily visitors to the chapel, where the church’s cardinals convene to elect a pontiff. Seven million people passed through the space last year.

“Calcium lactate comes from respiration, the increase in temperatures, humidity, and also the increase in the number of visitors,” explained Fabrizio Biferali, the curator of 15th–16th Century art at the Vatican Museums.

Michelangelo created the most famous image in the chapel, the Creation of Adam, in which God and the first man extend their fingers toward the other, in 1508, 25 years after the first Mass was said in the completed chapel. In 1533, Pope Clement VII commissioned “The Last Judgment” for the altar wall, though Michelangelo did not begin painting until 1536 under Pope Paul III, who named him “Supreme Architect.” 

The fresco — a form of art in which pigments are applied to wet plaster, rather than painted onto dry walls — fills nearly 2,000 square feet of wall, with a staggering 391 figures tumbling and recoiling from Christ’s Second Coming and final judgment at the end of time.

Using delicate Japanese tissue, the restoration team applies deionized water to the fresco, dissolving and removing the salt deposit within minutes. “This is not a restoration, nor is it a cleaning intervention,” Jatta explained, while adding that the work will allow the colors to return to the vibrancy they had when Michelangelo completed them in 1541.

“Every time we work, we discover new details of his technique — how he reasoned, how he resolved questions of volume and drawing. For us, he is still present,” said Angela Cerreta, vice chief restorer. “As we gradually remove this white veil and see things more clearly, we always notice something new. The emotion continues, every day.”

The project is funded by the Florida Chapter of the Patrons of the Arts in the Vatican Museums, which, along with other chapters contributes to the restorations and upkeep of the museums. Mary Viator, chair of the Florida Chapter, said the group, which has helped financed the restoration of the Pauline Chapel and other parts of the Vatican, was moved to be a part of “The Last Judgment” project because of its religious, artistic and cultural relevance, according to statement by the museums.  

Alberto Albanesi, vice administrative director of the Vatican Museums, did not disclose an official cost for the project, but said that one of the biggest items on the budget goes to the specially designed scaffold, which allows visitors to continue circulating while the fresco is worked on. The scaffold is covered by a curtain showing a high resolution rendition of “The Last Judgment.”

The work, which began in mid-January, is due to finish at the end of March, in time for Pope Leo XIV’s first Holy Week and Easter celebrations as pontiff. The last major restoration of the Sistine Chapel, which included full scale cleaning and conservation, took 14 years, beginning in 1980 and ending in 1994.

With rising temperatures and increasing numbers of visitors every year, Cerreta said, the chapel requires constant monitoring and maintenance to preserve the fresco for future generations. 

“We have been monitoring the environment of the Sistine Chapel since 2009,” Marco Maggi, who heads the Office of the Conservator at the Vatican Museums, adding that the chapel’s strictly monitored climate maintained at 71.6 to 75.2 degrees Fahrenheit and 55% to 60% humidity.

While the frescoes have stood centuries, the numbers of visitors means that the museum has to streamline their path through the chapel to ensure that the room doesn’t become too crowded, putting the art at risk. “The challenge is to find a balance between accessibility and conservation,” Jatta said.

[…]

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VATICAN CITY (RNS) – “The Last Judgement,” Michelangelo’s vast fresco painted into the plaster of the Vatican’s Sistine Chapel is undergoing an extraordinary maintenance process in preparation for Easter, with a team of 20 restorers working in two shifts a day remove a thin milky residue that has built up due to the thousands who come to admire the masterpiece every day.

Barbara Jatta, director of the Vatican Museums, described the coating as “a sort of cataract” to journalists on Saturday (Feb. 28) that flattens the dramatic effect of shadows and light of the roughly 45-by-40-foot fresco.

After it was discovered two years ago, laboratory tests revealed that the coating primarily consisted of calcium lactate, a type of salt formed from the breath of the 17,000 to 20,000 daily visitors to the chapel, where the church’s cardinals convene to elect a pontiff. Seven million people passed through the space last year.

“Calcium lactate comes from respiration, the increase in temperatures, humidity, and also the increase in the number of visitors,” explained Fabrizio Biferali, the curator of 15th–16th Century art at the Vatican Museums.

Michelangelo created the most famous image in the chapel, the Creation of Adam, in which God and the first man extend their fingers toward the other, in 1508, 25 years after the first Mass was said in the completed chapel. In 1533, Pope Clement VII commissioned “The Last Judgement” for the altar wall, though Michelangelo did not begin painting until 1536 under Pope Paul III, who named him “Supreme Architect.” 

The fresco — a form of art in which pigments are applied to wet plaster, rather than painted onto dry walls — fills nearly 2,000 square feet of wall, with a staggering 391 figures tumbling and recoiling from Christ’s Second Coming and final judgement at the end of time.

Using delicate Japanese tissue, the restoration team applies deionized water to the fresco, dissolving and removing the salt deposit within minutes. “This is not a restoration, nor is it a cleaning intervention,” Jatta explained, while adding that the work will allow the colors to return to the vibrancy they had when Michelangelo completed them in 1541.

“Every time we work, we discover new details of his technique — how he reasoned, how he resolved questions of volume and drawing. For us, he is still present,” said Angela Cerreta, vice chief restorer. “As we gradually remove this white veil and see things more clearly, we always notice something new. The emotion continues, every day.”

The project is funded by the Florida Chapter of the Patrons of the Arts in the Vatican Museums, which, along with other chapters contributes to the restorations and upkeep of the museums. Mary Viator, chair of the Florida Chapter, said the group, which has helped financed the restoration of the Pauline Chapel and other parts of the Vatican, was moved to be a part of “The Last Judgement” project because of its religious, artistic and cultural relevance, according to statement by the museums.  

Alberto Albanesi, vice administrative director of the Vatican Museums, did not disclose an official cost for the project, but said that one of the biggest items on the budget goes to the specially designed scaffold, which allows visitors to continue circulating while the fresco is worked on. The scaffold is covered by a curtain showing a high resolution rendition of the Last Judgement.

The work, which began in mid-January, is due to finish at the end of March, in time for Pope Leo XIV’s first Holy Week and Easter celebrations as pontiff. The last major restoration of the Sistine Chapel, which included full scale cleaning and conservation, took 14 years, beginning in 1980 and ending in 1994.

With rising temperatures and increasing numbers of visitors every year, Cerreta said, the chapel requires constant monitoring and maintenance to preserve the fresco for future generations. 

“We have been monitoring the environment of the Sistine Chapel since 2009,” Marco Maggi, who heads the Office of the Conservator at the Vatican Museums, adding that the chapel’s strictly monitored climate maintained at 71.6 to 75.2 degrees Fahrenheit and 55% to 60% humidity.

While the frescoes have stood centuries, the numbers of visitors means that the museum has to streamline their path through the chapel to ensure that the room doesn’t become too crowded, putting the art at risk. “The challenge is to find a balance between accessibility and conservation,” Jatta said.

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