![Alberto PIZZOLI / AFP [Alberto PIZZOLI / AFP]](/cdn-cgi/image/onerror=redirect,width=640,height=640,format=webp/https://storage.googleapis.com/uploads.mongoosehq.com/url/media/120737393/08e0be7bc211e7dc78d27f76a39ff454b057412cf65637f2f02775eb1290cfef)
![Le pape Léon XIV célèbre le vendredi saint à Rome. RICCARDO DE LUCA / ANADOLU / Anadolu via AFP [RICCARDO DE LUCA / ANADOLU / Anadolu via AFP]](/cdn-cgi/image/onerror=redirect,width=640,height=640,format=webp/https://storage.googleapis.com/uploads.mongoosehq.com/url/media/120430763/7fbac28e80c88a79eb1cf4903095be91ba3fb929f8e3642e8bcb9b59c1af5ed5)
![Dimanche de Pâques : des chrétiens du monde entier réunis à Rome pour la première bénédiction Urbi et Orbi de Léon XIV [Massimo Valicchia / NurPhoto / NurPhoto via AFP]](/cdn-cgi/image/onerror=redirect,width=640,height=640,format=webp/https://storage.googleapis.com/uploads.mongoosehq.com/url/media/120684097/9e0dae3e1ca9d3a1775881b193d1e41960b3f425138bebc960213529a2807b62)
Overview
- Pope Leo XIV, who delivered the Easter "Urbi et Orbi" blessing Sunday from St. Peter’s, urged those with the power to start wars to choose peace and warned against growing indifference to mass deaths.
- He announced a public prayer vigil for peace in St. Peter’s Square on April 11, a step meant to mobilize the faithful and keep pressure on leaders to pursue dialogue.
- St. Peter’s Square drew roughly 50,000 to 60,000 people for Mass and the blessing, following Friday’s Way of the Cross at the Colosseum where he carried a wooden cross through all 14 stations in a return to older papal practice.
- Vatican outreach intensified around the holiday, with calls Friday to Israeli President Isaac Herzog and Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky after an earlier appeal to President Trump to find an exit from the Middle East war.
- In Jerusalem, tight security rules kept most worshippers away from the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and forced closed‑door services, underscoring how the regional war is reshaping access to Christian holy sites.