PNN – In his first message since his election on Sunday, the new leader of the world’s Catholics called on the world’s major powers to “no more wars.”
According to the report of Pakistan News Network, Reuters wrote: Pope Leo XIV, who was elected as the successor to Pope Francis on May 8, told the crowd in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican that he called for “lasting peace in Ukraine,” a “ceasefire in Gaza, and the release of all hostages.”
He also welcomed the recent ceasefire between India and Pakistan and said they pray to God to grant the world a “miracle of peace.”
The new Pope repeated the late Pope Francis’s perennial plea, saying, “No more war!” and referred to the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II, a war that killed nearly 60 million people.
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He also stated, repeating a phrase coined by Pope Francis: The world today is living in a “dramatic scenario of World War III being played out piecemeal.”
The new Pope, while expressing sympathy for the Ukrainian people, called on negotiators of the peace process in Kiev to achieve a “lasting, rational, and credible peace.”
Pope Leo XIV also said he was “deeply saddened” by the war in Gaza and called for an immediate ceasefire in the Israeli war in Gaza, the transfer of humanitarian aid to the region, and the release of prisoners.
Pope Francis’ successor expressed his satisfaction with the ceasefire between India and Pakistan, saying he hopes it will lead to a lasting agreement between the two nuclear-armed neighbors.
After two days of deliberation and voting to elect a successor to Pope Francis, who died on April 21 after a difficult period of illness, the cardinals in the Vatican finally elected the new leader of the world’s Catholics on the evening of Thursday, May 8, and white smoke rose into the air, indicating the consensus of the 133 cardinals who were members of the papal election committee in a secret meeting in the Sistine Chapel.
The new pope, Cardinal Robert Francis Provost, known as Pope Leo XIV, was welcomed on the central balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica. The 69-year-old, from Chicago, Illinois, is a close associate of the late Pope Francis and the first American leader of the world’s Catholics.