Pope Leo tells media to shun divisions, urges release of jailed reporters
VATICAN CITY: Pope Leo XIV, in his first address to the media, urged journalists on Monday to focus on reporting the truth instead of engaging in partisan debates and called for the release of reporters jailed for doing their jobs.
"The way we communicate is of fundamental importance: we must say 'no' to the war of words and images, we must reject the paradigm of war," Leo told thousands of journalists who covered his election and the death of his predecessor, Pope Francis. He also spoke up for jailed journalists who, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists, numbered 361 at the end of last year.
"The suffering of these imprisoned journalists challenges the conscience of nations and the international community, calling on all of us to safeguard the precious gift of free speech and of the press," said the pope.
Leo, the former Cardinal Robert Prevost, is the first pope born in the US. He was elected as the new Catholic pontiff on May 8 and is a relatively unknown figure on the global stage, spending most of his career as a missionary in Peru.
The pontiff also told the journalists they must act responsibly in using artificial intelligence in their work, asking them to "ensure that it can be used for the good of all, so that it can benefit all of humanity."
"Let us disarm communication of all prejudice and resentment, fanaticism and even hatred, let us free it from aggression," said the pope.
Monday's meeting was Leo's first audience with a large group of people at the Vatican. Coming into the Vatican's large audience hall, he was greeted with applause from reporters.
The pope spoke mainly in Italian, but opened with a joke in English about the clapping.
"Thank you for this wonderful reception," said Leo. "They say that when they clap at the beginning, it doesn't matter much. If you're still awake at the end and still want to applaud, thank you very much."
After his address, Leo walked off the stage to greet journalists in the audience, and engaged in banter with a few of them. The pope indicated he would continue with Francis' plan to take a trip to Türkiye this year to celebrate the 1,700th anniversary of an early Church council, held in Nicaea, now the modern day town of Iznik.
But when an American reporter asked the pope, born in Chicago, if he would be returning for a visit home soon, Leo responded: "I don't think so."
Leo showed signs that he was not yet used to the rhythms and practices of being pope. At one point, he asked an aide if it was he or an usher who was supposed to give rosary beads to people after greeting them.
People meeting the pope are often given a small set of rosary beads blessed by the pontiff, usually distributed by a papal attendant. One reporter also asked the pope, who is a tennis player, if he would like to play against Andre Agassi. Leo responded, "just don't bring Sinner," making a Catholic pun about the last name of Italian champion Jannik Sinner. — Reuters
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Observer
7 hours ago
- Observer
Iran stresses the need of nuclear 'peaceful activities'
CAIRO: Iran said on Monday it will not accept a nuclear agreement that deprives it of what it calls "peaceful activities", a reference to uranium enrichment, as it pressed the United States for guarantees it will drop sanctions. Speaking in Cairo, where he met the UN nuclear watchdog's chief Rafael Grossi, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said: "If the goal is to deprive Iran of its peaceful activities, then certainly no agreement will be reached." Araghchi insisted that Iran has "nothing to hide" on its nuclear programme. "Iran has a peaceful nuclear programme... we are prepared to provide this assurance to any party or entity," he said. The remarks came after Grossi of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on Monday called for more transparency from Iran following a leaked report that showed Tehran had stepped up uranium enrichment. On Monday, Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei told a news conference: "We want to guarantee that the sanctions are effectively lifted." "So far, the American side has not wanted to clarify this issue," he said. — AFP
Observer
10 hours ago
- Observer
Rome's 'Hollywood on the Tiber' plans comeback despite Trump tariff threat
Europe's largest film studio Cinecitta is aiming to re-launch Italy as a movie powerhouse, even as U.S. President Donald Trump's proposed tariffs on foreign productions cast a shadow over the film industry globally. Cinecitta, the homonymous company that manages Rome's historic film studio, approved a five-year plan this week backed by the EU's post-COVID Recovery Fund, which includes building new high-tech sound stages and boosting production capacity by 60% by 2026. "We want to lead the game," said CEO Manuela Cacciamani. "Cinecitta must be a factory that works at full capacity... with excellence as a minimum standard." Founded in 1937 under Benito Mussolini's fascist rule, Cinecitta became known as the "Hollywood on the Tiber". It has hosted over 3,000 films, attracting world-renowned directors such as Martin Scorsese, Federico Fellini and Francis Ford Coppola. The company is targeting revenue of 51.9 million euros ($58.8 million) in 2029, almost double the 2024 figure, and aims to turn a 4.3-million-euro net profit after a loss of 11.6 million euros last year. Trump has said he will impose a 100% tariff on movies produced outside the United States to save Hollywood from "a very fast death", but has issued few details on how the levy would work. The tariff plan threatens to disrupt the current industry set-up, in which big U.S. productions rely on the services of studios around the world that can provide expertise, cheaper costs and striking location scenery. Trump's sweeping tariffs were temporarily reinstated by a federal appeals court on Thursday, a day after a U.S. trade court blocked them, ruling Trump had exceeded his authority. Cacciamani told Reuters Cinecitta was monitoring "with the utmost care" developments regarding the tariff threat. "The hope is that two historic powers of cinema worldwide, (Italy and the U.S.) which owe so much to each other, will continue to cooperate," she said. Italy's tax credit of up to 40% for film production is "among the most competitive worldwide", Cinecitta said, helping attract some of last year's international successes such as "Emilia Perez" and the papal thriller "Conclave". Among projects slotted for filming in Cinecitta this year is Mel Gibson's "The Resurrection of The Christ", a sequel to his 2004 "The Passion of The Christ". Gibson is one of Trump's "Special Ambassadors" in Hollywood, tasked with rescuing the U.S. film industry alongside actors Jon Voight and Sylvester Stallone. His next film, being shot in Italy, would be exposed to the tariff. —Reuters
Muscat Daily
11 hours ago
- Muscat Daily
Germany's Annalena Baerbock set for top UN job
Berlin, Germany – Annalena Baerbock knows how to land on her feet. Just a few weeks after it became clear that her Green Party was unlikely to be part of the next German government, the country's first-ever female foreign minister was already lining up a new job. The UN General Assembly is set to elect her on Monday. She is running unopposed for the one-year top position, which is primarily of ceremonial significance and mainly involves organising plenary sessions. The inauguration is due to take place on September 9, shortly before the general debate of the UN General Assembly – and while the job is limited to a year, it is considered a good stepping stone for subsequent roles. Appointment ruffled feathers When Germany's former centre-left government nominated Baerbock as the new president of the United Nations General Assembly, a post that Germany was next in line to occupy, government spokesperson Steffen Hebestreit said Baerbock was highly respected and 'highly qualified for the job'. The appointment did not come without some internal grievance: Germany had said last year that it would nominate the much-respected diplomat Helga Schmid for the post. A former Green Party member, Schmid is a Foreign Ministry veteran and was considered a vital architect of the nuclear agreement between Iran, the EU and other states, concluded in 2015. Baerbock responded to the criticism saying her appointment was be 'analogous to many predecessors who were also former foreign ministers or former prime ministers'. Baerbock, still only 44, was foreign minister until the centre-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) , Christian Social Union (CSU) and the centre-left Social Democratic Party (SPD) negotiated their way to Germany's new government. At least rhetorically, Baerbock always remained committed to the 'value-based foreign policy' she said she wanted to enact even before she took office. As the Green Party's chancellor candidate in 2021, she made what many saw as assertive statements about human rights and democratic freedoms in China, Belarus, Hungary, and Russia. Baerbock in office But her outspokenness often did not go down well later, when she took office. Her ministry was forced to clarify a remark she made during a meeting of the Council of Europe in Strasbourg in January 2023, when, during a call for unity among western allies, she said, in English: 'We are fighting a war against Russia, not against each other.' This was immediately pounced on by the Russian government, when spokesperson Maria Zakharova claimed that this was proof that the West was waging a 'premeditated war against Russia'. Then in April 2023, during a press conference with her Chinese counterpart Qin Gang in Beijing, she offered a note of warning about China's international ambitions, only to be told by Qin that the 'last thing that China needs is a teacher from the West'. Nor did it help Chinese-German relations when, in an interview with US broadcaster Fox News in September 2023, she described Xi Jinping as a 'dictator', which led the Chinese government to summon Germany's ambassador to Beijing. Overall, Baerbock's three years as foreign minister were marked by momentous international crises, which necessitated a tireless work rate: She made a total of 160 trips in her time in office, visiting some 77 countries – face-to-face diplomacy had never been more necessary, she once told public broadcaster ARD . During her time in office, she showed herself a strong supporter of sending military supplies to Ukraine, a country she visited nine times – including visits to Ukrainian troops on the front. Following the October 7, 2023 attacks by Hamas, Baerbock attempted to walk a line between expressing Germany's continued support for Israel, while also trying to negotiate humanitarian aid for Gaza. She also attempted to enact a more 'feminist' foreign policy, something she expressed by increasing the proportion of female officials in her own ministry, as well as in German embassies around the world, a third of which are now headed by women. Baerbock's rise Baerbock's political career was marked in her youth by her parents, who took her on anti-nuclear demos in the 1980s. On her personal website, she describes being 'touched by worldwide injustice' since her teenage years, which she said sparked early ambitions to be a journalist. She studied political science and public law in Hamburg, earned a master's degree in international law at the London School of Economics, and then began a doctorate at Berlin's Free University, which she broke off in 2013 on being elected to the Bundestag. Her academic career ran in parallel to a steep political ascent. Having joined the Green Party at the age of 25, she became leader of the party in the state of Brandenburg only four years later, while simultaneously acting as spokesperson of the party's working group on European affairs and serving as a board member of the European Green Party. She continued this focus on European affairs in her first term in the Bundestag, when she claims to have 'worked hard on making the German government finally acknowledge its international responsibility as one of the largest economies in the world and to lead the German 'energy transition''. Her rise continued into April 2021, when she won an internal power struggle against her Green Party co-leader Robert Habeck, and became the party's first-ever official chancellor candidate in a national election campaign. Her candidacy was undermined however, when it emerged that her ghost writer had plagiarised parts of her hastily-released book. Though her party's election result that year was a disappointment, it set her on her course into foreign diplomacy. DW
