Vatican City, May 21, 2025/08:05 am
Pope Leo XIV, in the first general audience of his pontificate, called at the end of hostilities in Gaza and the entry of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip.
Speaking before tens of thousands of participants a cloudy day on Saint-Pierre square, the new pope put an end to his remarks by calling the situation in the Gaza Strip “more and more disturbing and painful”.
“I renew my sincere attraction to allow the entry of decent humanitarian aid and to put an end to hostilities whose heartbreaking price is paid by children, the elderly and the sick,” he added.
The pope’s call occurs while the number of deaths and wounded in the Gaza Strip continues to rise under the attacks of Israel. According to reports, while humanitarian aid has been authorized to enter Gaza, it has not yet been released for distribution.
A month until the death from the death of Francis, Pope Leo also recalled with gratitude the “beloved pope François, who a month ago returned to the father’s house”.
Leo followed his written remarks closely, adding only the commentary on Gaza, during the public audience of May 21, which he started by going to the square in the potemobile to applause, in banners and waving flags. Some people have been held on their chairs to try to see the new Pope, which often stopped to bless babies of all ages held in the outstretched arms.
The inaugural catechesis of the first pope born in the United States picked up the theme started by Francis for the year of the jubilee 2025: “Jesus Christ our hope.”
Reflecting on the sown parable, Leo noted the unusual behavior of the sower in history, which “does not care about where the seed falls. He throws the seeds even where it is unlikely that they will bear fruit: on the way, on the rocks, among the thorns. ”
“The way this” wasty “swewer throws the seed is an image of the way God loves us,” he said, echoing part of his first message from the Saint-Pierre Basilica after his election on May 8, that God “loves us all unconditionally”.
“First and foremost in this parable Jesus tells us that God launches the seed of his word on all kinds of soils, that is to say in any situation,” said Leo.
He continued: “God is confident and hopes that sooner or later, the seed will flourish. This is how he loves us: he does not wait for us to become the best soil, but he always gives us generously his word. Perhaps by seeing that he trusts us, the desire to be a better soil will be lit in us. It is hope, based on the rock of generation and the mercy of God.”
The theme of personal transformation was also repeated later in catechesis, when Leo said: “Jesus is the Word, he is the seed. And the seed, to bear fruit, must die. Thus, this parable tells us that God is ready to “waste” for us and that Jesus is ready to die to transform our life. “
The husband and father Chuma Asuzu of Canada came to the place early in the morning with his family to attend the first general public of the Pope.
“It was good and I think it was interesting to see how he explained the seeds and how it is the Word of God,” said Asuzu with AICC. “I really appreciate it.”
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“He was the subject of points to drive a lot because it was his first audience and he looked emotional at the start,” he added.
Instead of taking an example of literature or philosophy, as Pope Francis has often done, Pope Leo used the painting of Vincent Van Gogh “The Sower at Sunset” to provoke meditation on hope.
“This image of the sower under the flamboyant sun also tells me about the farmer’s work,” he said. “And that strikes me that, behind the sow, Van Gogh represented the grain already mature. It seems to me an image of hope: in one way or another, the seed has bore fruit. We do not know how, but he did.”
“At the center of the scene, however, is not the sower, which stands on the side; instead, all the painting is dominated by the image of the sun, perhaps to remind us that it is God who moves history, even if he sometimes seems absent or distant,” noted the pope. “It is the sun that warms the clods of the earth and makes the seeds ripen.”
The final thought of the pontiff was to remind people present to ask the Lord the grace to welcome the seed of his word: “And if we realize that we are not fruitful soil, do not discourage ourselves, but ask him to work more to make us become better.”
Leo closed the public in the usual way, singing our father’s prayer in Latin and then giving his apostolic blessing.
Among the pilgrims present on Wednesday, Father Rolmart Verano, who heads a group of pilgrims jubilant from the diocese of Surigao, in the Philippines.
“I never thought that one day I will come here (in Rome),” he told CNA. “It is one of my wildest dreams that came true!”
“The striking point of the general public of Pope Leo XIV is when he said that the Word of God should take root in each of our hearts,” he said. “This should serve as a guide for our daily life, it doesn’t matter whether ordinary or difficult circumstances.”
As one of the 40 members of a group of pilgrims from the diocese of Mumbai, India, Sandesh Almeida said that he was immediately impressed by the kindness shown by the new pontiff to the public.
“Peace is a good message from him,” he said. “Now, with India and Pakistan … We should opt for peace and the Pope focuses mainly on peace.”
Hannah Brockhaus is the main correspondent for the Vatican of the Catholic press agency. After having grown up in Omaha, in Nebraska, she graduated in English from Truman’s State University in Missouri. In 2016, she moved to Rome, Italy, where during her free time, she likes to read and go on an adventure with her husband and son.
Kristina Millare is an independent journalist with vocational training in the humanitarian aid and development sector, information journalism, entertainment, policy and government, business and entrepreneurship.
