[ad_1]
Pope Leo XIV delivers his blessing from the central balcony of the St. Peter Basilica for his first Sunday blessing after his election at St. Peter’s Square on Sunday, May 11, 2025.
Andrew Medichini/AP
Hide the caption
Switch the image signature
Andrew Medichini/AP
Vation City – Pope Leo XIV called for a fair and permanent peace in Ukraine and an immediate ceasefire in the Gaza Strip with the publication of hostages and the provision of humanitarian aid on his first Sunday at noon as a pope.
“I also address the great powers of the world by repeating the ubiquitous call” Never Cour “, said Leo from the Loggia of St. Peter Basilica.
It was the first time that after his remarkable choice, Leo had returned to the loggia for the first time as Pope, the first from the United States. Then he also brought a peace message.
Leo took the papal tradition to offer a blessing at noon, but with several twists. While his predecessors delivered the greeting from the studio window of the Apostolic Palace to the side of the Piazza, Leo went to the middle of the square and the heart of the basilica.
He also offered a novelty by sang the Regina Caeli prayer, said a Latin prayer in Easter that earlier popes would normally only recite.
He was wearing the simple white cassock of papacy – not the formal red cloak that he was wearing on Thursday evening – and had returned to his silver chest cross. He had a richly decorated that contained the relics of St. Augustine and his mother St. Monica on Thursday evening, which had been given to him by his Augustinian religious order.
Leo quoted Pope Francis when he denounced the number of conflicts that were devastating the globe today, and said it was a “third world war in pieces”.
“I wear the suffering of the beloved Ukrainian people in my heart,” he said. “Let everything be possible to achieve real, fair and permanent peace as soon as possible.”
He demanded the release of prisoners of war and the return of the 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 of the “exhausted civilian population and all hostages”.
Leo also noticed that Sunday was Mother’s Day in many countries and that all mothers, “including those in heaven”, wanted a happy Mother’s Day.
The amount filled with marching bands in the city broke out into cheers and music when the bells of St. Peter’s Basilica were mounted. The Italian authorities estimated that around 100,000 people were on the pitch.
On Sunday Leo celebrated a private fair near the grave of St. Peter with the head of his Augustinian order, Rev. Alejandro Moral Anton. The fair occurred in the grottos under St. Peter, the traditional graves of St. Peter, the apostle, which is considered the first Pope.
The area, which is usually accessible to the public, also contains the graves of earlier popes, including Pope Benedict XVI.
Leo prayed on Saturday in front of the grave of Pope Francis, which is located in the city in St. Mary Major Basilica.
The 69-year-old missionary born in Chicago was elected on Thursday after Francis’s death on April 21 for Pope 267.