Vatican City: Pope Leo XIV has once again raised his voice against the growing violence in Ukraine, urging global leaders to abandon the “logic of weapons” and embrace dialogue, peace, and fraternity. Speaking during his Sunday Angelus address in St. Peter’s Square, the Pontiff made a heartfelt appeal for an immediate ceasefire as Russia intensifies its strikes across Ukrainian cities. “The voice of weapons must fall silent, and the voice of fraternity and justice must prevail,” he declared, lamenting the continued destruction and human suffering caused by the war.
The Pope called on the international community to take responsibility and support negotiations, stressing that prayer alone was not enough and that concrete acts of charity and solidarity were urgently required. He emphasized that indifference to the conflict was unacceptable, as the lives of countless innocent civilians continued to be lost in the violence.
Turning his attention to other tragedies shaking the global community, Pope Leo offered prayers for the victims of the recent school shooting in Minneapolis, Minnesota, where a Catholic school became the site of another mass shooting. Switching to English during his address, he expressed his sorrow for the young lives cut short, linking the tragedy to the wider “pandemic of arms, large and small, which infects our world.” He urged the faithful to pray earnestly for children across the globe who face violence daily and invoked the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Queen of Peace, asking for her guidance in humanity’s struggle to transform “swords into ploughshares” as foretold in the prophecy of Isaiah.
The Pope also turned to the ongoing humanitarian crisis unfolding off the coast of Mauritania, where at least 69 migrants drowned and nearly 100 others remain missing after a vessel capsized. Survivors revealed that the boat, carrying desperate men, women, and children, had departed from The Gambia nearly a week earlier. Calling the tragedy “a deadly reality repeated every day,” Pope Leo urged society not to ignore the plight of migrants but to embrace them with compassion and dignity. “Let us pray that the Lord may teach us, as individuals and as a society, to fully put into practice His word: ‘I was a stranger and you welcomed me’,” he said.
In concluding his Angelus message, Pope Leo XIV offered a universal prayer for all victims of war, violence, and forced migration. Entrusting the departed and the missing to the “loving embrace of the Savior,” the Pontiff once again underscored his call for a world where the voices of peace and fraternity triumph over weapons and division.