In his first Sunday address to the 100,000 people, Catholic and non-Catholic, gathered at St. Peter’s Square, Pope Leo XIV reiterated his initial call for peace when elected Pope on May 8. “Pope Leo XIV stepped out onto the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica to thunderous applause and an electric atmosphere, to deliver his first Sunday blessing and an address calling for peace in Ukraine and Gaza,” according to CNN. Flags were flying in the crowd from the United States, Mexico, Brazil, Spain, and other countries. Addressing himself to the leaders of the world, after praying the Regina Caeli, the Pope said, “In today’s dramatic scenario of a piecemeal third world war, as Pope Francis stated many times, I too address the world’s leaders, repeating the ever-timely appeal: ‘Never again war!’”
CNN reported that “He told the crowd he was there to deliver a message of peace and led the faithful in the Regina Caeli (“Queen of Heaven”) prayer for the first time, surprising those gathered by singing the prayer. The prayer is one of four Marian antiphons, or prayers to the Virgin Mary, which is said throughout the Easter season. (The practice of antiphonal singing—either as “call and response,” interspersed with spoken text—was advanced in the Church of St. Ambrose and St. Augustine in the fourth and fifth centuries, discussed in works like Augustine’s De Musica, and involved all congregants singing, they did in St. Peter’s Square on Sunday.)
After the Regina Caeli, Leo called for an end to the conflict in Ukraine—an “authentic, just and lasting peace.” On India and Pakistan, he said, “I have welcomed with satisfaction the announcement of the ceasefire between India and Pakistan, and I hope that through the upcoming negotiations, a lasting accord may be reached soon.” Leo also made a plea in Gaza, “may there be an immediate ceasefire! Let humanitarian aid be provided to the stricken civil population, and let all the hostages be freed.”
