During an audience on Wednesday, Pope Leo XIV forcefully appealed for a ceasefire in Gaza, the liberation of all hostages, and that humanitarian law be fully respected. The Pope’s appeal came at the Wednesday General Audience, just one day after almost 50 people were injured trying to receive food aid at distribution sites in Gaza. Two weeks ago, the Israeli military launched a major new offensive in the area that has been at war since attacks in Israel by Palestinian militant groups in October 2023.
“From the Gaza Strip,” the Pope said, we hear “rising ever more insistently to the heavens, the cries of mothers and fathers who clutch the lifeless bodies of their children, and who are continually forced to move about in search of a little food and water and safer shelter from bombardments.”
Pope Leo also opened his greetings to Italian pilgrims on Wednesday with an appeal for peace in Ukraine, saying his thoughts often turn to “the Ukrainian people affected by new serious attacks against civilians and infrastructure.” He then invited everyone “to join in prayer for peace in Ukraine and wherever people are suffering due to war.”
Further details of the pope’s statements can be found here at the Vatican News website.