ROB SCHMITZ, HOST:
It's ALL THINGS CONSIDERED from NPR News. I'm Rob Schmitz. Today in Rome, Pope Leo XIV celebrated his first Easter as head of the Roman Catholic Church. It was a bright, sunny day in St. Peter's Square, where 50,000 of the faithful gathered for Easter Mass. After the services, Leo gave a speech from the balcony of St. Peter's Basilica in which he called for world leaders involved in global conflicts to lay down their arms.
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POPE LEO XIV: (Non-English language spoken).
SCHMITZ: Claire Giangrave, the Vatican correspondent for our partner organization Religion News Service, is in Rome, where she's been covering Pope Leo's Easter celebration. Claire, this was his first Easter in Rome as pope. What did he say today?
CLAIRE GIANGRAVE: The pope called on world leaders to lay down their weapons and seek paths of dialogue to achieve peace. And this is at a time where many world leaders are doing the opposite. They are flexing their weapons, and they're making threats. But Leo said that true strength seeks to build relationships, not destroy them through threats and violence.
He also underlined that the Easter story is a story of nonviolence, and that's something that we've been hearing all week here in Rome. Last Sunday, for example, Pope Leo said that God doesn't listen to the prayers of those who wage wars. And that's a striking comment at a time when we've seen leaders in the United States and also in Israel use religious rhetoric to justify the war in Iran.
SCHMITZ: So popes calling for peace is really nothing new. Why is this different?
GIANGRAVE: That's true. We've heard popes use their Easter addresses to plead for peace. Pope Francis, during his last public message to the world - that was just before he died last April - listed conflicts in Africa, Asia, the Middle East and basically everywhere. Leo, unlike his predecessors, did not list multiple conflicts in the world during his speech today. He made a more general pronouncement, but he did quote Pope Francis, who would often call on people to not be desensitized by violence and war and instead to take action. This is what Leo said on Sunday.
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LEO XIV: (Through interpreter) We are growing accustomed to violence, resigning ourselves to it and becoming indifferent - indifferent to the deaths of thousands of people, indifferent to the repercussions of hatred and division that conflict so, indifferent to the economic and social consequences they produce, which we all feel.
SCHMITZ: What else can we expect from Pope Leo in the coming weeks?
GIANGRAVE: So Leo announced today that he will hold a prayer vigil for peace on April 11. But popes don't just hold vigils. The pope is a head of state, and this pope sees the papacy as an important player in diplomacy and in providing aid in war zones. On Friday, for example, he called the president of Israel, Isaac Herzog, and the president of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy. And during those calls, he offered the Vatican's help in providing humanitarian aid in areas affected by conflict. We've seen the Vatican, for example, really take on an active role in facilitating the return of prisoners in the Russian-Ukrainian conflict.
SCHMITZ: So we are coming up on the one-year anniversary of Leo's election as pope in May. You've been covering him throughout in Rome. What is your takeaway so far?
GIANGRAVE: Well, one thing's for sure. This is not a pope of big pronouncements and gestures, like his predecessor, Francis. He has his own and quite unique style. For example, this Sunday at Easter Mass, we saw him wear all the papal finery and the ornate vestments. And actually, throughout this whole Holy Week leading up to Easter, we saw kind of return to tradition, and Leo brought back many elements that Francis had famously shunned.
SCHMITZ: Right.
GIANGRAVE: But at the same time, we hear Leo quote from Francis quite a bit on poverty, on the environment and on peace. So in matters of style, he seems to be more conservative. But when it comes to substance, he is pretty close to his predecessor, Francis. And, of course, it's just been a year, so we'll have to wait and see how he grows into this papacy a bit.
SCHMITZ: Claire Giangrave is the Vatican correspondent for Religion News Service. Thanks, Claire.
GIANGRAVE: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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