At his first general audience, Pope Leo XIV called for an end to the war in Gaza and reflected on hope, drawing inspiration from Van Gogh’s "The Sower at Sunset."

The Election of Pope Leo XIV delighted and surprised many Catholics and non-Catholics alike. His first words before he gave his apostolic blessing, “Urbi et Orbi” (“To the City and the World”), were memorable.

Pope Leo XIV holds his first general audience in St. Peter’s Square on Wednesday, issuing an appeal for Gaza, which he calls an “increasingly worrying and painful” situation, harming children, elderly, and the sick in particular.