Pope Leo XIV called on global leaders to stop waging wars during his first major speech to the faithful after his election as the Catholic Church’s new leader.
“I also turn to the powerful of the world repeating the always timely appeal: never again a war,” Pope Leo said on Sunday during a traditional post-Easter message in St. Peter’s Square in Rome.
Speaking shortly after the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II, the pontiff said that today’s world is facing a “piecemeal Third World War” — an expression that was first used by his predecessor Pope Francis.
For the first time after his election as pope last week, Robert Francis Prevost weighed in on the biggest global conflicts — from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine to the conflict in Gaza.
“I bring in my heart the suffering of the beloved people of Ukraine,” Leo told a cheering crowd. He called for a “just, authentic and long-lasting” peace in Ukraine, for the liberation of prisoners of war and the return of deported Ukrainian children to their families.
Turning to the conflict in Gaza, Leo said he supported an “immediate ceasefire, humanitarian support to the exhausted civil population and the freeing of the hostages.”
Finally, he welcomed the recent ceasefire between India and Pakistan and called for a lasting peace.
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