“Never again war!” Pope Leo XIV said from the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica in his first Sunday address on May 11 before a packed crowd in the square and streets of Vatican City.
Leo’s appeal for a just and lasting peace in Ukraine and a ceasefire in Gaza included the phrase pontiffs have uttered since Pope Paul VI, who led the church from 1963 to 1978.
“In today’s dramatic scenario of a third world war being fought piecemeal, as Pope Francis has repeatedly stated, I too turn to the world’s leaders, repeating the ever-timely appeal: never again war,” he said.
The noontime “Regina Caeli” (Latin for “Queen of Heaven”) address, the prayer dedicated to the Virgin Mary, lasted just over 10 minutes and was the first of his four-day-old papacy. Leo delivered it from the central balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica, where he first appeared on May 8 after his election as the first pope from the United States.
As the pontiff sang the Marian “Regina Caeli,” tens of thousands of people in St. Peter’s Square joined him.
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With thanks to the National Catholic Reporter (NCR) and Christopher White, Camillo Barone & Rhina Guidos, where this article originally appeared.
