Pope Leo XIV called on world leaders to end armed conflicts while remembering the victims of what he described as the “senseless violence of war” during an All Souls’ Day Mass in Rome on Monday.
“We want to pray for all those who have recently lost a loved one, particularly those who lost them because of the senseless violence of war,” the pontiff said in his homily.
Leo XIV urged those capable of ending hostilities to respond to the suffering caused by conflict. “May the tears of so many mothers, children and elderly people reach the hearts and move the consciences of those who have the power to silence the guns,” he said.
The Pope celebrated the Mass in the entrance square of Rome’s monumental Verano cemetery before a large congregation, despite the threat of rain. Before the ceremony, he briefly prayed at a grave and placed a bouquet of white and yellow flowers, the colors of the flag of Vatican City.
On Sunday, Leo XIV had expressed hope that a humanitarian operation carried out in the Ukrainian city of Oleshky in recent days, involving a local truce, would strengthen “the will for dialogue” and lead to “new concrete initiatives for peace.”
Ukraine’s commissioner for human rights, Dmytro Lubinets, said on Saturday that residents who had been trapped in Oleshky left the city without incident as part of a humanitarian operation mediated by the United States.
Sources: Observador.