作者： admin

In one of the most forceful addresses of his early papacy, Pope Leo used a global peace prayer vigil at Vatican City’s St. Peter’s Basilica on Saturday to issue a searing condemnation of warmongering and an urgent call for global unity around dialogue. The 70-year-old American pontiff, elected to the papacy last May following the passing of Pope Francis, has emerged as a prominent voice against the rising tide of armed conflict across the globe, most recently doubling down on his criticism just one day prior, when he decried the “senseless and inhuman violence” roiling the Holy Land.

Speaking to gathered worshippers and a global audience of more than 1.4 billion Catholics, Pope Leo did not name specific politicians or nation states, a consistent practice in his public remarks, but his words landed as a sharp rebuke to global leaders pursuing military escalation. In characteristically measured but impassioned tones, he laid bare the human cost of unending conflict, painting a stark portrait of a world “where there never seem to be enough graves, for people continue to crucify one another and eliminate life, with no regard to justice and mercy.”

“Enough of the idolatry of self and money! Enough of the display of power! Enough of war! True strength is shown in serving life,” the pontiff implored. Directing his message first to global heads of state, he urged an immediate end to hostilities and a return to diplomatic negotiation: “To them we cry out: Stop! It is time for peace! Sit at the table of dialogue and mediation, not at the table where rearmament is planned and deadly actions are decided!”

Beyond national leaders, Pope Leo extended responsibility for building peace to ordinary people across the world, calling on the “immense multitude” that rejects war to cultivate a culture of peace in everyday spaces: homes, schools, neighborhoods, and both civil and religious communities. He framed this grassroots work as a counter to what he called the “delusion of omnipotence” that has grown increasingly aggressive and unpredictable across the global stage.

“A Kingdom that counters polemics and resignation through friendship and a culture of encounter. Let us believe once again in love, moderation and good politics,” he said, describing the Kingdom of God as a bulwark against the dehumanizing forces of war: “It also is a place with ‘no sword, no drone, no vengeance, no trivialisation of evil, no unjust profit, but only dignity, understanding and forgiveness.’”

Known as a moderate bridge-builder since his election, Pope Leo has repeatedly pushed for de-escalation in ongoing conflicts, most notably the U.S.-Israeli campaign against Iran, where he has consistently emphasized that a diplomatic solution is the only sustainable path forward. Saturday’s vigil marked one of his most passionate public entreaties to date, as he called on billions of people worldwide to reclaim shared values of compassion and cooperation in what he described as a “dramatic hour in history.”

A 32-hour temporary ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine officially entered force on Saturday, marking a rare pause in a four-year conflict that has reshaped European security. The truce, timed to coincide with Orthodox Easter, was first proposed by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky more than a week before Russian President Vladimir Putin formally ordered the ceasefire, with both sides confirming their commitment to upholding the terms. According to Kremlin details, the pause in hostilities runs from 1300 GMT Saturday through the end of Sunday, covering more than a full day of religious observance for Orthodox communities on both sides.

Zelensky reaffirmed Ukraine’s commitment to the ceasefire in a post on social platform X, stating that Kyiv would match Russian compliance in kind. “The absence of Russian strikes in the air, on land, and at sea will mean no response from our side,” he wrote. Even as it pledged to adhere to the truce, the Ukrainian military warned it would launch an “immediate” retaliation if Moscow violated the agreement. Just hours before the truce was scheduled to begin, the war saw a sharp escalation in strikes: Ukrainian authorities reported that Russia launched at least 160 drones across the country, killing four civilians and wounding dozens more in Ukraine’s eastern and southern regions. The southern Odesa region suffered the worst damage, with two civilian deaths and significant destruction to critical civilian infrastructure.

Cross-border attacks were also reported on Russian territory overnight. Russian local authorities stated that a wave of Ukrainian drone strikes sparked a large fire at an oil depot in the southern Krasnodar region and damaged multiple residential apartment buildings. In Russian-occupied parts of Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk and southern Kherson regions, Moscow-installed officials claimed four people were killed in the Ukrainian strikes.

The temporary ceasefire has been met with widespread skepticism from Ukrainians, who point to a similar Orthodox Easter truce held in 2024 that collapsed within hours, with both sides accusing the other of hundreds of violations. Despite the deep distrust surrounding the ceasefire, the warring parties completed a significant prisoner of war exchange on Saturday, with each side releasing 175 captured service members. The Russian defense ministry confirmed that the United Arab Emirates mediated the swap, one of the few consistent areas of limited cooperation between Moscow and Kyiv throughout the four-year conflict.

Efforts to reach a lasting negotiated end to the war have stalled in recent weeks, with US-led peace talks sidelined by the ongoing conflict in the Middle East. Even before the escalation in tensions in the Middle East, progress toward a peace deal moved at a glacial pace, driven by intractable disagreements over territorial claims. Ukraine has proposed freezing the conflict along existing front lines, but Russia has rejected the offer, demanding that Kyiv cede full control of all remaining Donetsk region territory it currently holds – a non-negotiable demand for Ukrainian leadership. Multiple rounds of US-mediated talks have failed to bridge the gap between the two sides.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov denied that Moscow had held pre-truce discussions with either Ukraine or the United States, and emphasized that the temporary ceasefire is not linked to any broader ongoing negotiations to end the war. Since the conflict began, it has claimed hundreds of thousands of lives and forced millions of Ukrainians to flee their homes, making it the deadliest conflict on European soil since World War II. After four years of fighting, frontline operations have largely stagnated, with Russia making incremental territorial gains at the cost of massive personnel and equipment losses.

According to recent assessments from the U.S.-based Institute for the Study of War (ISW), Russian advances have slowed significantly since late 2025, after Ukrainian counteroffensives pushed back Russian forces in the southeast. Analysts attribute the slowdown in Russian operations to multiple factors, including Moscow’s ban on the use of SpaceX’s Starlink satellite internet for frontline Russian forces and Russia’s own restrictions on the Telegram messaging app. Despite these setbacks for Russia, the ISW assessment notes that the situation remains unfavorable for Ukrainian forces in parts of the Donetsk region near the cities of Kramatorsk and Sloviansk. Currently, Moscow occupies just over 19 percent of Ukraine’s total territory, most of which was seized in the opening weeks of the 2022 invasion.