Pope Leo calls for peace in Ukraine and Gaza in first Sunday blessing

Pope Leo XIV called for a just and lasting 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’,” he declared to the estimated 100,000 people gathered below his balcony of St Peter’s Basilica.

Recalling the end of the Second World War 80 years ago, Leo quoted Pope Francis in denouncing the number of conflicts ravaging the globe today, saying it is a “third world war in pieces”.

He added: “I carry in my heart the sufferings of the beloved Ukrainian people. 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 was picking up the papal tradition of offering a Sunday blessing at noon, but while his predecessors delivered the greeting from the studio window of the Apostolic Palace, off to the side of the piazza, the new pontiff went to the very centre 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 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 for his first public appearance as Pope – 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 also highlighted that Sunday is 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.

Earlier on Sunday, Leo celebrated a private Mass near the tomb of St Peter.

The Vatican said the Pope was joined by the head of his Augustinian order, the Rev Alejandro Moral Anton, in the grottoes underneath St Peter’s. It is 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 Benedict XVI.

Leo also attended the official unsealing of the papal apartments in the Apostolic Palace, which were sealed after Pope Francis’s death on April 21. It is unclear if Leo will move into the apartments or just use them for formal audiences as Francis did. Leo has slept in his old apartment in a Vatican palazzo since his election.

Leo on Saturday prayed before the tomb of Pope Francis, located at the St Mary Major Basilica.

The 69-year-old Chicago-born missionary was elected the 267th Pope on Thursday, the first American pontiff. He appeared to the world from the same loggia at St Peter’s Basilica, offering a message of peace and unity.