Pope Urges Leaders to Choose Peace and Dialogue, Not Violence

JAKARTA - The leader of the Catholic Church in the world, Pope Leo XIV, called on those in power to choose peace, put down their weapons and dialogue, not violence, in the Urbi et Orbi blessing of St. Peter's Basilica, Vatican during the Easter Sunday Mass.

"Let those who have weapons put them down! Let those who have the power to wage war choose peace! Not a peace imposed by force, but through dialogue! Not with the desire to dominate others, but to meet them!" said Pope Leo XIV, quoted from Anadolu (6/4).

The Pope further said the world is becoming more accustomed to violence, with people resigned and becoming "indifferent" to the deaths of thousands of people, to the "impact of hatred and division sown by conflict," and its economic and social consequences.

"There is a constant increase in 'globalization of indifference'," Pope Leo said.

"We cannot continue to be indifferent! And we cannot surrender to evil!" he continued.

"Let us leave behind every desire for conflict, domination, and power, and implore God to grant His peace to a world torn by war and marked by hatred and indifference that make us feel helpless in the face of evil," he added.

Previously, Pope Leo spoke to an estimated 50,000 people from an open altar in St. Peter's Square flanked by white roses, while the stairs leading to the piazza where the faithful gathered were filled with spring annuals, symbolically in tune with the Pope's words, quoted by The Associated Press.

Leo greeted the faithful around the world in 10 languages, including Arabic, Chinese, and Latin, reviving a practice abandoned by his predecessor, Pope Francis.

Before returning to the basilica, Leo stepped outside and waved to the cheering crowd below. He then greeted the faithful in the piazza from the papal car that took him down Via della Conciliazione to the Tiber River and back.

Previously, during the Holy Week series, Pope Leo also revived the tradition of washing the feet of priests on Holy Thursday, a gesture of support for the clergy, after Francis chose a more inclusive path, visiting prisons and homes for the disabled to wash the feet of women, non-Christians, and prisoners.

The 70-year-old pope was also the first pope in decades to carry a light wooden cross to all 14 stations during Good Friday's Way of the Cross.

Pope Leo XIV is the first Pope from the United States who was elected in May 2025, replacing the late Pope Francis who died on April 21.