Pope Leo XIV Calls for Peace in Ukraine and Gaza

Pope Leo XIV waves as he delivers the Regina Caeli prayer from the main central loggia of St Peter's basilica in The Vatican, on May 11, 2025. (Photo by FILIPPO MONTEFORTE / AFP)

Pope Leo XIV called for a genuine and just peace in Ukraine and an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, 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 to an estimated 100,000 people below.
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 Sunday blessing at noon, but with some 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 church.
He also offered a novelty by singing the Regina Caeli prayer, a Latin prayer said during the Easter season which recent popes would usually just recite, The Associated Press reported.
Traditionalists and conservatives, many of whom felt alienated by Pope Francis' reforms and loose liturgical style, have been looking for gestures hinting at Leo's priorities. Some have expressed cautious optimism at the very least with a return to a traditional style that Leo exhibited on Thursday night, when he wore the formal red cape of the papacy that Francis had eschewed.
On hand in the square on Sunday for Leo's first noon prayer were two of Europe's more firebrand conservatives, France's Marine Le Pen and Italy's Matteo Salvini. The Italian minister has highlighted his Catholic faith in his political messaging.
On Sunday Leo wore the simple white cassock of the papacy 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.
‘Beloved Ukrainian people’ 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.