A report published on the Vatican News website notes that at this morning’s general audience, held in St. Peter’s Square, the Supreme Pontiff expressed his concern about the consequences of the confrontation between Kiev and Moscow, assuring “my closeness and my prayers for all the victims.”

The Bishop of Rome reaffirmed the Holy See’s support for a possible tripartite summit between the presidents of Russia, Ukraine, and the United States—Vladimir Putin, Volodymyr Zelensky, and Joe Biden, respectively—as well as “for any initiative for dialogue and peace.”

Leo XIV also referred to the conflict in the Middle East, where more than 53,000 Palestinians have been killed in the Gaza Strip due to Israeli attacks, and where people face a severe humanitarian crisis.

Responding to “the cries of mothers and fathers who hold the lifeless bodies of their children and are forced to continually move in search of food and safer shelter amid increasingly intense bombing,” he stated, “I renew my appeal to those responsible: ceasefire.”

In an interview published last Tuesday on the Vatican News website, the Holy See’s Secretary of State, Pietro Parolin, asserted that “what is happening in Gaza is unacceptable.”

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