“Never again the war!”: Pope Léon XIV challenged the “great people of this world” on Sunday, as his predecessor François did, waving the specter of a “third world war” during his first Sunday speech since the Balcony of the Saint-Pierre Basilica.
“Faced with the current dramatic scenario of a third world war in pieces, as Pope Francis said several times, I also address myself to the greats of this world, repeating this always topical call: never the war!” Launched the sovereign pontiff in front of tens of thousands of people gathered at Place Saint-Pierre.
“I carry in my heart the sufferings of the beloved Ukrainian people,” he added, pleading for “an authentic, fair and lasting peace” after the traditional Sunday prayer-the “Regina Caeli” at this Pascal time.
As for the conflict between Israel and Hamas, the 69 -year -old pope said he was “deeply saddened by what is happening in the Gaza Strip” and called for “that hostilities cease immediately, that humanitarian aid is brought to the exhausted civilian population and that all hostages are released”.
Tens of thousands of tourists and faithful
This Sunday intervention was eagerly awaited because it traditionally constitutes an opportunity for the Pope to express themselves on international news.
“It is the continuation of François,” said Sister Geneviève, present among the faithful, a French nun friend of the Pope who died on April 21 at 88 and whose images had gone around the world when she prayed in front of her coffin, in defiance of the protocol.
In 12 years of pontificate, François has multiplied calls for peace, without being heard on conflicts in Ukraine or in the Middle East.
Long before the prayer, tens of thousands of tourists and faithful had flocked to the square, enlivened by many orchestras present for the “jubilee of brass bands” which fell this weekend, as part of the festivities organized by the church every 25 years.
“I am here to thank the Pope for everything he has done for Peru, for the forgotten peoples, for the Aboriginal peoples of Peru,” Alejandrina Espinosa, 59, came from this country where Robert Francis Prevost has spent more than half of his missionary life.
“We hope for a happy new year, because the Catholic Church is put to the test at the moment, especially in the United States,” said Resfina Macy Torrevillas, a 68-year-old Californian, believing that an American pope could “perhaps” help: “The Lord’s ways are impenetrable!”
“A sweet man who knows how to listen”
Léon XIV had already addressed the faithful with a short prayer on Thursday, just after his election, to urge peace.
“He is a person who immediately inspires a lot of confidence, a gentle man who knows how to listen (…) a clear and free person,” said Corriere Della on Sunday will be the Italian cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Patriarch of Jerusalem.
The new spiritual leader of the 1.4 billion Catholics also pleaded on Sunday for the Church to give young people “credible models”, and recalled the “need” of vocations, “in particular sacred and religious”.
On Saturday, the 267th Pope had underlined before the cardinals his attachment to the “social doctrine” of the Church, at the time of artificial intelligence.
He then collected himself on the tomb of François, and returned to a private visit to an Augustinian sanctuary near Rome.
It is also with the prior general of the Order of Saint-Augustin that the new pope conceded a mass on Sunday morning in the Vatican caves, before the prayer Place Saint-Pierre.
Léon XIV had claimed in his inaugural speech his belonging to this order founded in the 13th century on precepts of common life, sharing and research of the truth, of which he was prior general from 2001 to 2013.
Sunday prayer opens a sequence of intense consultations for the Pope, who will receive the media on Monday and the diplomatic corps on Friday.
The solemn mass of its enthronement will be held on Sunday May 18, Place Saint-Pierre, in the presence of several foreign leaders or their representatives.
