VATICAN CITY: Pope Leo XIV on Sunday urged “those who have the power to unleash wars” to “choose peace” in his first Easter blessing as pontiff with the Middle East conflict raging.
Catholics around the world marked the holiday under the shadow of a war that began with US-Israeli strikes against Iran on February 28 and has drawn in the whole region, convulsing the global economy.
“We are growing accustomed to violence, resigning ourselves to it, and becoming indifferent. Indifferent to the deaths of thousands of people,” the pope told a crowd in St. Peter’s Square.
The leader of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics, who was elected in May 2025, also called for a prayer vigil at the Vatican on April 11.
He paid tribute to his predecessor pope Francis who last appeared in public on Easter Sunday last year — a few hours before his death.
