Leo XIV celebrated the first Easter Mass of his pontificate and launched an appeal for peace in the ‘Urbi et Orbi’ blessing on Easter Sunday and denounced theglobalization of indifference” in the face of the death of “thousands of people” in armed conflicts, urging that “those who have weapons in their hands abandon them.”
The Pontiff, who spoke from the loggia of St. Peter’s Basilica before 50,000 faithful, according to data from Vatican Newshas rejected that peace has to be “a peace imposed by force” and has demanded that it be achieved “through dialogue, not with the desire to dominate the other, but to find him“.
“We are getting used to violence, we are resigned to it and we are becoming indifferent to the death of thousands of people,” said Leo
The Pope stressed that “the peace that Jesus gives us is not that which is limited to silencing weapons, but rather that which touches and transforms the heart.” Citing Saint Augustine, he appealed to “love the resurrection”, convinced that “evil does not have the last word because it has been defeated by the Risen One“. And he has announced a prayer vigil for peace in St. Peter’s Basilica next Saturday, April 11.
Cry out against war
Pope Leo XIV cried out against war and global injustice during the celebration of the Holy Mass on Easter Sunday, in which he asked that the joy of the Resurrection reach all corners of the world where “the specter of death still floats.”
In his homily, the Pontiff listed the evils that threaten humanity, including “the violence of war that kills and destroys,” along with “the idolatry of profit that plunders the earth’s resources” and “the abuses that crush the weakest.”
“The power of death always threatens us, inside and out. Within us, when the burden of our sins prevents us from taking flight; when the disappointments or loneliness we experience dry up our hopes; when worries or resentments suffocate the joy of living; when we feel sadness or tiredness, when we feel betrayed or rejected, when we must deal with our weakness, with the suffering, with the fatigue of each day. Then it seems to us that we have ended up in a tunnel from which we cannot see the exit,” he said. expressed the pope.
Leo XIV has appealed to the Resurrection of Christ as an “antidote” to this reality and has called on the faithful to be bearers of hope. “Let us run like Mary Magdalene and announce it to everyone,” he asked, so that “wherever the specter of death still floats, the light of life can shine.”
The Pontiff presided over his first Mass of the Resurrection before the 50,000 faithful gathered in St. Peter’s Square and the 10,000 who were in its surroundings, according to data from Vatican Media. He concluded his message by asking that “Christ, our Easter, bless us and give his peace to the entire world.”
I remember Pope Francis
Likewise, the Pontiff recalled the words of Pope Francis to emphasize that the Resurrection “is not something of the past”, but “a force of life that has penetrated the world.”
Pope Francis passed away just the day after Easter Sunday last year. On April 20, 2025, Francis stepped out onto the main balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica to impart the ‘Urbi et Orbi’ blessing. “Brothers and sisters, good Easter,” he said.
He also greeted and blessed everyone. “May the Lord bless us all in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit,” he pronounced, after reading the Easter message.
In this message, which was read by the Master of Pontifical Ceremonies, Diego Ravelli, he asked for a ceasefire in Gaza, the release of the hostages and appealed for the “disarmament” of countries to achieve a world without wars.
“Peace is not possible without true disarmament. The demand that each people has to provide for its own defense cannot be transformed into a general race to rearmament. The light of Easter invites us to tear down the barriers that create divisions and are fraught with political and economic consequences,” he noted.
