New Pope Backs Proposed Ceasefire In Ukraine, Gaza

By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent, Worthy News

VATICAN CITY (Worthy News) – Newly elected Pope Leo XIV called for a just and lasting peace in Ukraine just hours after Ukraine and Russia seemed to open their doors slightly to direct peace talks.

In his first Sunday address at the Vatican, Leo pleaded to end global conflicts, which he likened to a “third world war in pieces”.

He also urged an immediate ceasefire and humanitarian aid in Gaza and the release of all hostages that Hamas took from Israel on October 7, 2023.

Additionally, Leo welcomed the U.S.-brokered truce between India and Pakistan despite reported violations and referenced the end of the Second World War in 1945.

Appearing at a window of the Apostolic Palace in Vatican City, Leo said he wanted to bless tens of thousands of people gathered in St Peter’s Square and echoed pleas for peace by his predecessor, Pope Francis. “I, too, address the world’s great powers by repeating the ever-present call, ‘never again war’,” he explained.

“I carry in my heart the suffering of the beloved Ukrainian people,” Leo stressed, urging that “every effort be made to reach a true, just, and lasting peace as soon as possible”.

Vatican sources told Worthy News that the Vatican had been involved in getting war prisoners released as well as in negotiations on the plight of thousands of Ukrainian children taken to Russia.

FREEING PRISONERS

“May all prisoners be freed, and may the children be returned to their families”, Leo said Sunday.

His remarks came after Ukraine said it is open to direct talks with Russia later this week, but only if Moscow signs up to an unconditional ceasefire first.

The announcement by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy followed Russian President Volodymyr Putin’s overnight suggestions of negotiations in Turkey.

Their comments came after a visit by European leaders to the Ukrainian capital Kyiv, where they remembered the fallen in the Russia-Ukraine war and called for a 30-day ceasefire.

Leo then turned to the ongoing humanitarian suffering in the Gaza Strip, sparked by the Hamas attacks against Israel that killed some 1,200 people, including pregnant women and babies. “I am deeply pained by what is happening [in Gaza] he said, referring to the Hamas-Israel war. “Let the fighting cease immediately, let humanitarian aid be provided to the exhausted civilian population, and may all hostages be released”.

With a sense of hope, Pope Leo welcomed the truce between nuclear-armed India and Pakistan and expressed hope “that, through the upcoming negotiations, a lasting agreement may soon be reached.” However, he also wondered, “How many other conflicts are there in the world?”

It was the pope’s first public appearance at the palace since he stepped out on a balcony last Thursday after a two-day conclave that elected him as the 267th pope. Previously a little-known cardinal, Robert Prevost, 69, is the first U.S. leader of the Catholic Church.

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