In his first Easter as Pontiff, Pope Leo, the first American pope, called for peace amid an American war in Iran, urging world leaders to seek an off‑ramp to conflict.
Thousands gathered in St. Peter’s Square to hear the message. In an interpreter’s translation the Pope said, “Let those who have weapons lay them down. Let those who have the power to unleash wars choose peace.” Chris Livesay reported from Rome that the appeal had been building through Holy Week.
The Pope repeatedly denounced war during the week leading up to Easter. On Good Friday he warned that those in power “will answer to God for their power to start and to end wars,” saying, “God does not wage war. Your hands are full of blood,” language Livesay described as unusually strong.
Livesay also noted a Vatican contrast between the Pope’s plea and an artistic restoration: Michelangelo’s Last Judgment in the Sistine Chapel—recently cleaned for the first time in nearly 30 years—now appears sharper, its figures pulled upward and downward in the fresco’s dramatic vision of judgment.
The report recalled that cardinals elected Robert Prévost to become Pope Leo almost a year earlier, and that when he first appeared on St. Peter’s balcony he used the word “peace” repeatedly—underscoring that today’s Easter message was a centerpiece of his early papacy. Jericka Duncan closed the segment by thanking Livesay for the report.