{"id":41811,"date":"2026-04-05T10:44:18","date_gmt":"2026-04-05T10:44:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/?p=41811"},"modified":"2026-04-05T10:44:18","modified_gmt":"2026-04-05T10:44:18","slug":"pope-leo-condemns-violence-of-war-in-first-easter-mass-amid-iran-conflict","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/?p=41811","title":{"rendered":"Pope Leo condemns \u2018violence of war\u2019 in first Easter Mass amid Iran conflict"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.france24.com\/en\/tag\/pope-leo-iv\/\" target=\"_self\">Pope Leo\u00a0XIV<\/a> celebrated his first <a href=\"https:\/\/www.france24.com\/en\/tag\/easter\/\" target=\"_self\" class=\"gtm-add-suggested-tag\">Easter<\/a> Mass as pontiff with a call Sunday to exercise hope against \u201cthe violence of war that kills and destroys,\u2019\u2019 saying \u201cwe need this song of hope today\u201d as conflicts spread around the world.<\/p>\n<p>With the US-Israeli war on Iran in its second month and Russia\u2019s ongoing campaign in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.france24.com\/en\/tag\/ukraine\/\" target=\"_self\" class=\"gtm-add-suggested-tag\">Ukraine<\/a>, Leo has repeatedly called for a halt in hostilities. In his Easter homily, the pope singled out those who wage war, abuse the weak and prioritize profits.<\/p>\n<p>Leo, the first US-born pope, addressed the faithful from an open-air altar in St. Peter\u2019s Square flanked with white roses, while the steps leading down to the piazza where the faithful gathered were filled with spring perennials, symbolically resonating with the pope\u2019s message of hope.<\/p>\n<div class=\"em-video-wrapper m-em-video\" data-media-video-wbmz533154-f24-en-20260330=\"\" data-wrapper-video-player=\"\" data-show-hidden-video-player=\"WBMZ533154-F24-EN-20260330\" data-youtube-script=\"\">\n<div class=\"m-em-video__video\">\n<div class=\"o-em-consent \">\n<div class=\"o-em-consent__content\">\n<p class=\"o-em-consent__content__text\">To display this content from YouTube, you must enable advertisement tracking and audience measurement.<\/p>\n<p>        <button class=\"a-master-button a-master-button--dark\" data-action=\"accept\"><br \/>\n            Accept<br \/>\n                            <svg class=\"a-svg a-svg--icon-check\">\n    <use xlink:href=\"http:\/\/www.france24.com\/build\/images\/svg\/sprite.c98bf387c90bc4a87186b0b783f15ba0.svg#icon-check\" href=\"http:\/\/www.france24.com\/build\/images\/svg\/sprite.c98bf387c90bc4a87186b0b783f15ba0.svg#icon-check\"\/>\n  <\/svg><br \/>\n        <\/button><br \/>\n        <button class=\"a-link\" data-action=\"manage\">Manage my choices<i class=\"a-svg a-svg--icon-edit\"\/><\/button>\n    <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"o-em-adblock\" data-adblock-content=\"\">\n<div class=\"o-em-adblock__content\">\n<p class=\"o-em-adblock__content__text\">One of your browser extensions seems to be blocking the video player from loading. To watch this content, you may need to disable it on this site.<\/p>\n<p>            <button class=\"a-master-button a-master-button--dark\" data-action=\"reload\">Try again<\/button>\n    <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<figure class=\"m-item-image m-item-image--16x9 m-item-image--has-caption\">\n<picture class=\"a-picture a-picture--16x9\"><source type=\"image\/webp\" srcset=\"https:\/\/s.france24.com\/media\/display\/40d3437c-2b86-11f1-958c-005056a90284\/w:388\/p:16x9\/EN-20260329-161003-161340-CS.webp 388w,https:\/\/s.france24.com\/media\/display\/40d3437c-2b86-11f1-958c-005056a90284\/w:720\/p:16x9\/EN-20260329-161003-161340-CS.webp 720w,https:\/\/s.france24.com\/media\/display\/40d3437c-2b86-11f1-958c-005056a90284\/w:1024\/p:16x9\/EN-20260329-161003-161340-CS.webp 1024w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 639px) calc(100vw - 32px), (max-width: 1076px) calc(100vw - 44px), 850px\"><br \/>\n<\/source><\/picture><figcaption class=\"a-figcaption\">\n                                <span>\u00a9 France 24<\/span>            <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>The pontiff implored the faithful to keep their hope in the face of death, which lurks \u201cin injustices, in partisan selfishness, in the oppression of the poor, in the lack of attention given to the most vulnerable.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe see it in violence, in the wounds of the world, in the cry of pain that rises from every corner because of the abuses that crush the weakest among us, because of the idolatry of profit that plunders the earth\u2019s resources, because of the violence of war that kills and destroys,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<p>He quoted his predecessor <a href=\"https:\/\/www.france24.com\/en\/tag\/pope-francis\/\" target=\"_self\" class=\"gtm-add-suggested-tag\">Pope Francis<\/a> in warning against falling into indifference in the face of \u201cpersistent injustice, evil, indifference and cruelty,&#8221; because \u201cit is also true that in the midst of darkness, something new always springs to life and sooner or later produces fruit.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He will later deliver the traditional \u201cUrbi et Orbi\u201d message\u00a0\u2013 Latin for \u201cto the city and the world.\u2019\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"a-read-more\"><span class=\"a-read-more__label\">Read more<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.france24.com\/en\/europe\/20260327-pope-leo-xiv-makes-historic-visit-to-glitzy-monaco\" target=\"_self\" class=\"a-read-more__link\">Pope Leo XIV makes historic visit to glitzy Monaco<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Traditional ceremonies at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, revered by Christians as the traditional site of Jesus\u2019 crucifixion and resurrection, were scaled back under an agreement with Israeli police. Authorities have put limits on the sizes of public gatherings due to ongoing missile attacks.<\/p>\n<p>The restrictions also dampened the recent Muslim holy month of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.france24.com\/en\/tag\/ramadan\/\" target=\"_self\" class=\"gtm-add-suggested-tag\">Ramadan<\/a> and Eid al-Fitr holiday, as well as the current weeklong Jewish festival of Passover. On Sunday, the Jewish priestly blessing at the Western Wall \u2014 normally attended by tens of thousands\u00a0\u2013 was limited to just 50 people.<\/p>\n<p>The restrictions have strained relations between Israeli authorities and Christian leaders. Police last week prevented two of the church\u2019s top religious leaders, including Latin Patriarch Pierbattista Pizzaballa, from celebrating Palm Sunday at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.<\/p>\n<p>On Tuesday, the pope had expressed hope that the war could be finished before Easter.<\/p>\n<p><em>(FRANCE 24 with AP)\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.france24.com\/en\/europe\/20260405-pope-leo-condemns-violence-of-war-in-first-easter-mass-amid-iran-conflict\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Pope Leo\u00a0XIV celebrated his first Easter Mass as pontiff with a call Sunday to exercise hope against \u201cthe violence of war that kills and destroys,\u2019\u2019 saying&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":41812,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[44],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-41811","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-europe-russia"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41811","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=41811"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41811\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/41812"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=41811"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=41811"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=41811"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}