On his first Sunday appearance as pope, Leo XIV made a passionate appeal for peace and an end to the armed conflicts in the world, especially in Ukraine and Gaza, and cried out, “Never again war!”

Tens of thousands of faithful Catholics gathered in St. Peter’s Square to watch Pope Leo XIV deliver the first Sunday blessing of his pontificate exactly at noon.

Pope Leo XIV delivered his first Sunday noon blessing from the loggia at St. Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City, three days after the 69-year-old Chicago-born missionary made history as the first American elected to lead the Catholic Church.

“Peace be with you,” were Pope Leo’s first words to the crowd. “My dear brothers and sisters, this is the first greeting of the risen Christ, the Good Shepherd who gave His life for God’s flock,” he said, praying that Christ’s peace would enter people’s hearts, their families and “the whole earth.”

Pope Leo XIV called for a genuine and just peace in Ukraine and an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, in his first Sunday noon blessing as pontiff that featured some symbolic gestures suggesting a message of unity in a polarized Catholic Church.