VATICAN CITY (AP) – Pope Leo XIV called for a just and lasting peace in Ukraine and an immediate ceasefire in Gaza with the release of hostages and delivery of humanitarian aid in his first Sunday noon blessing as pontiff.
“I too address the world’s great powers by repeating the ever-present call ‘never again war,’” Leo said from the loggia of St. Peter’s Basilica.
It was the first time that Leo had returned to the loggia since he first appeared to the world on Thursday evening following his remarkable election as pope, the first from the United States. Then too he delivered a message of peace.
Leo was picking up the papal tradition of offering a blessing at noon, but with several twists. Whereas his predecessors delivered the greeting from the studio window of the Apostolic Palace, off to the side of the piazza, Leo went to the very center of the square and the heart of the basilica.
He also offered a novelty by singing the Regina Caeli prayer, a Latin prayer said during the Easter season that past popes would usually just recite.
He wore the simple white cassock of the papacy – not the formal red cape he wore on Thursday night – and had reverted back to wearing his silver pectoral cross. He had worn a more ornate one that contains the relics of St. Augustine and his mother, St. Monica, on Thursday night that had been given to him by his Augustinian religious order.
Leo quoted Pope Francis in denouncing the number of conflicts ravaging the globe today, saying it was a “third world war in pieces.”
“I carry in my heart the sufferings of the beloved Ukrainian people,” he said. “Let everything possible be done to achieve genuine, just and lasting peace as soon as possible.”
He called for the release of war prisoners and the return of Ukrainian children to their families, and welcomed the ceasefire between India and Pakistan.
He also called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, and for humanitarian relief to be provided to the “exhausted civilian population and all hostages be freed.”
Leo also noted that Sunday was Mother’s Day in many countries and wished all mothers, “including those in heaven” a Happy Mother’s Day.
The crowd, filled with marching bands in town for a special Jubilee weekend, erupted in cheers and music as the bells of St. Peter’s Basilica tolled. Italian authorities estimated some 100,000 people were in the square.
Earlier Sunday, Leo celebrated a private Mass near the tomb of St. Peter with head of his Augustinian order, the Rev. Alejandro Moral Anton. The Mass occurred in the grottoes underneath St. Peter’s, the traditional burial place of St. Peter, the apostle who is considered the be the first pope.
The area, which is normally open to the public, also contains the tombs of past popes, including Pope Benedict XVI.
Leo on Saturday prayed before the tomb of Pope Francis, located across town at the St. Mary Major Basilica.
The 69-year-old Chicago-born missionary was elected 267th pope on Thursday following the April 21 death of Francis.
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