{"id":92796,"date":"2025-05-11T13:14:09","date_gmt":"2025-05-11T13:14:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/92796\/"},"modified":"2025-05-11T13:14:09","modified_gmt":"2025-05-11T13:14:09","slug":"pope-leo-xiv-calls-for-peace-in-ukraine-gaza-ceasefire-welcomes-india-pakistan-ceasefire-announcement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/92796\/","title":{"rendered":"Pope Leo XIV calls for peace in Ukraine, Gaza ceasefire; welcomes India-Pakistan ceasefire announcement"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/1x1_spacer.png\" alt=\"Pope Leo XIV delivers his blessing from the central balcony of St. Peter\u2019s Basilica for his first Sunday blessing after his election, in St. Peter\u2019s Square at the Vatican on May 11, 2025.\" title=\"Pope Leo XIV delivers his blessing from the central balcony of St. Peter\u2019s Basilica for his first Sunday blessing after his election, in St. Peter\u2019s Square at the Vatican on May 11, 2025.\" data-original=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/1x1_spacer.png\" class=\"lead-img\" fetchpriority=\"high\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"caption\">\n                    Pope Leo XIV delivers his blessing from the central balcony of St. Peter\u2019s Basilica for his first Sunday blessing after his election, in St. Peter\u2019s Square at the Vatican on May 11, 2025.<br \/>\n                                          | Photo Credit: AP\n                                      <\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thehindu.com\/news\/international\/pope-leo-xiv-the-bridge-building-pontiff\/article69562019.ece\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"noopener\">Pope Leo XIV<\/a> called for a just and lasting peace in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thehindu.com\/topic\/russia-ukraine-crisis\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Ukraine<\/a> and an immediate ceasefire in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thehindu.com\/topic\/israel-palestine-conflict\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Gaza<\/a> with the release of hostages and delivery of humanitarian aid in his first Sunday (May 11, 2025) noon blessing as pontiff.<\/p>\n<p>According to Vatican News, Pope Leo XIV welcomed the recent announcement of a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thehindu.com\/news\/national\/india-pakistan-agree-to-ceasefire-says-foreign-secretary-vikram-misri\/article69561065.ece\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"noopener\">ceasefire between India and Pakistan<\/a>. \u201cI hope that, through the upcoming negotiations, a lasting agreement may soon be reached,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNever again war!\u201d Pope Leo said from the loggia of St. Peter\u2019s Basilica.<\/p>\n<p>Recalling the end of World War II 80 years ago, Pope Leo quoted <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thehindu.com\/news\/international\/pope-francis-dies-at-88-glimpses-from-his-life-and-papacy-at-the-vatican\/article69253977.ece\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"noopener\">Pope Francis<\/a> in denouncing the number of conflicts ravaging the globe today, saying it was a \u201cthird world war in pieces.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img src-template=\"https:\/\/th-i.thgim.com\/public\/incoming\/tuyx1j\/article69540254.ece\/alternates\/SQUARE_80\/Pope_Indigenous_People_47967.jpg\" data-original=\"https:\/\/th-i.thgim.com\/public\/incoming\/tuyx1j\/article69540254.ece\/alternates\/SQUARE_80\/Pope_Indigenous_People_47967.jpg\" alt=\"\" data-device-variant=\"SQUARE~SQUARE~SQUARE~SQUARE\" class=\"media-object lazy adaptive placeholder lazy\" width=\"100%\" height=\"100%\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Pope Leo, the first American pope, also noted that Sunday was Mother\u2019s Day in many countries and wished all mothers, \u201cincluding those in heaven\u201d a Happy Mother\u2019s Day.<\/p>\n<p>The crowd, filled with marching bands in town for a special Jubilee weekend, erupted in cheers and music as the bells of St. Peter\u2019s Basilica tolled.<\/p>\n<p class=\"referpara\"><strong><b>Editorial: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thehindu.com\/opinion\/editorial\/hell-on-earth-on-israel-and-gaza\/article69545226.ece\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">\u200bHell on earth: On Israel and Gaza<\/a><\/b><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>It was the first time that Pope Leo had returned to the loggia since he first appeared to the world from there on Thursday (May 8, 2025) night following his remarkable election as Pope, the first from the United States. Then too he delivered a message of peace.<\/p>\n<p>Earlier Sunday (May 11, 2025), Pope 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\u2019s, the traditional burial place of St. Peter, the apostle who is considered the be the first Pope.<\/p>\n<p>The area, which is normally open to the public, also contains the tombs of past popes, including Pope Benedict XVI.<\/p>\n<p>Pope Leo on Saturday (May 10, 2025) prayed before the tomb of Pope Francis, located across town at the St. Mary Major Basilica.<\/p>\n<p><img src-template=\"https:\/\/th-i.thgim.com\/public\/incoming\/cqwq2n\/article69561800.ece\/alternates\/SQUARE_80\/AP05_10_2025_000230A.jpg\" data-original=\"https:\/\/th-i.thgim.com\/public\/incoming\/cqwq2n\/article69561800.ece\/alternates\/SQUARE_80\/AP05_10_2025_000230A.jpg\" alt=\"\" data-device-variant=\"SQUARE~SQUARE~SQUARE~SQUARE\" class=\"media-object lazy adaptive placeholder lazy\" width=\"100%\" height=\"100%\"\/><\/p>\n<p>The 69-year-old Chicago-born missionary <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thehindu.com\/news\/international\/new-pope-elected-white-smoke-from-sistine-chapel\/article69554490.ece\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"noopener\">was elected 267th Pope on Thursday<\/a> (May 8, 2025) following the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thehindu.com\/news\/international\/pope-francis-death-catholic-church-april-21-2025\/article69254510.ece\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"noopener\">April 21 death of Pope Francis<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>St. Peter\u2019s Square was packed with pilgrims, well-wishers and the curious, many holding up flags from their homelands. Leo gave many special groups a shoutout.<\/p>\n<p class=\"publish-time-new\"> Published &#8211; May 11, 2025 04:26 pm IST<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Pope Leo XIV delivers his blessing from the central balcony of St. Peter\u2019s Basilica for his first Sunday&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":92797,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7654],"tags":[2000,299,43832,43831,43833,43830,41442,31848,657],"class_list":{"0":"post-92796","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ukraine","8":"tag-eu","9":"tag-europe","10":"tag-new-pope-sunday-appeal","11":"tag-pope-leo-gaza-ceasefire","12":"tag-pope-leo-on-india-pakistan-ceasefire","13":"tag-pope-leo-on-peace-in-ukraine","14":"tag-pope-leo-xiv","15":"tag-st-peters-square","16":"tag-ukraine"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114489384340120064","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92796","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=92796"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92796\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/92797"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=92796"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=92796"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=92796"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}