Pope Leo XIV delivers the Regina Caeli prayer from the main central loggia of St Peter’s basilica on on May 11, 2025 in Vatican City, Vatican. (Mario Tama/Getty Images)

(JTA) — Pope Leo XIV spoke directly about Gaza in his first Sunday address since being elected on Thursday, marking his first public comments as pope about the 19-month-old war between Israel and Hamas there.

“I am deeply pained by what is happening in the Gaza strip,” he said, according to translations of the speech, delivered in Italian at the Vatican. “May a ceasefire immediately come into effect. May humanitarian aid be allowed into the civilian population and may all hostages be freed.”

He also decried the war in Ukraine and praised the ceasefire, announced Saturday, in a conflict between India and Pakistan.

The speech — in which Leo proclaimed, “Never again war!” — and other moves by the new pope are being closely watched by supporters of Israel, many of whom felt alienated by Pope Francis’ response to the war in Gaza.

Francis also called for the release of the hostages, whom Hamas abducted from Israel, in his frequent calls for a ceasefire. But he also suggested that Israel could be guilty of “genocide” in Gaza and attended the inauguration of a nativity scene at the Vatican that positioned baby Jesus on a keffiyeh, or Palestinian scarf; last week, the Vatican announced that he had willed his popemobile to the children of Gaza.

On Thursday, after Leo called for peace in his first public address as pope without mentioning Gaza, Rabbi Noam Marans, the American Jewish Committee’s director of interreligious and intergroup relations, emphasized that such calls are standard fare from the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica. “All popes want peace,” he said.

The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.

Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.

Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.

This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on. Make a gift today!

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

$90 $180

$360

Other amount