At the conclusion of the Mass of Inauguration of his pontificate on Sunday, Pope Leo XIV prayed the Regina Caeli and appealed for people suffering due to war.
He thanked the 200,000 people and numerous delegations attending the Eucharist, expressing his gratitude to the representatives of nations, Churches, and various religions.
“In the joy of faith and communion, we cannot forget our brothers and sisters who are suffering because of war,” said Pope Leo.
He recalled that “the surviving children, families, and elderly” in Gaza have been reduced to starvation, as the Israel-Hamas war continues.
In Myanmar, noted the Pope, “new hostilities have cut short innocent young lives.”
And, he lamented, “martyred Ukraine awaits negotiations for a just and lasting peace.”
After the Mass, Pope Leo XIV met privately with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who attended the Inauguration Mass with his wife.
In his Regina Caeli address, the Pope said he “strongly felt the spiritual presence of Pope Francis accompanying us from heaven.”
As he marked the official beginning of his Petrine Ministry, Pope Leo XIV invited Catholics to pray entrust his ministry to the Blessed Virgin Mary, under her titles as “Star of the Sea and Our Lady of Good Counsel.”
“We implore her intercession,” he concluded, “for the gift of peace, for support and comfort for those who suffer, and for the grace for all of us to be witnesses to the Risen Lord.”
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