Latest news with #PapaLeoXIV
Washington Post
19-05-2025
- Politics
- Washington Post
Colombia's president suggests Vatican could host new peace talks with rebel group
BOGOTA, Colombia — Colombia's President Gustavo Petro said on Monday that he is contemplating a new round of peace talks with the nation's largest remaining rebel group, and suggested that the talks could take place in the Vatican . Petro's statement came after he attended an audience with Pope Leo XIV in the Vatican, which has not commented on the suggestion that it could host peace talks between Colombia's government and the National Liberation Army, or ELN, a group with around 5,000 fighters that was founded in the late 1960s.
Associated Press
19-05-2025
- Politics
- Associated Press
Colombia's president suggests Vatican could host new peace talks with rebel group
BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — Colombia's President Gustavo Petro said on Monday that he is contemplating a new round of peace talks with the nation's largest remaining rebel group, and suggested that the talks could take place in the Vatican. Petro's statement came after he attended an audience with Pope Leo XIV in the Vatican, which has not commented on the suggestion that it could host peace talks between Colombia's government and the National Liberation Army, or ELN, a group with around 5,000 fighters that was founded in the late 1960s. 'I spoke with the Pope about what can be done for the Vatican to hold the new peace talks,' Petro said in a video posted on X. He added that the ELN wants to keep talks in Cuba and Venezuela, but suggested that the Vatican could be a more suitable venue for negotiations. 'I think this is the place, where we can recall the theory of effective love,' Petro said, referring to one of the founding principles of the rebel group. The ELN has not commented on Petro's proposal. Colombia's government suspended peace talks with the ELN in January after the group staged a series of deadly attacks on villages in the northeast Catatumbo region, that forced more than 50,000 people to flee their homes. Petro, who was a member of another rebel group during his youth, has accused the ELN's leadership of becoming 'greedy' criminals and of betraying their revolutionary ideals. 'They have replaced the banners of change and transformation, for the banners of Mexican drug cartels,' Petro said on Monday. The ELN was founded by activists and union leaders inspired by the Cuban revolution and by a Catholic movement known as liberation theology, that calls on the faithful to dismantle social and economic structures that cause inequality and poverty. The group has also had members of the clergy among its ranks, including Camilo Torres, a prominent priest who joined the ELN shortly after it was founded and was killed in a battle with the Colombian army. During his presidential campaign, Petro promised to make peace with the ELN 'within three months' of taking office. Three years on, his government is struggling to pacify rural areas, where the ELN and several other groups are fighting over territory that was abandoned by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, the large guerrilla group that made peace with the government in 2016. Colombia's Catholic Bishops Conference has called on the government and the ELN to resume negotiations so that violence can decrease in rural areas, where crimes like the forced recruitment of children, and the murders of human rights leaders are on the rise.
Yahoo
18-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Italian prime minister praises Pope Leo XIV's offer to host Ukraine-Russia peace talks
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni expressed gratitude to Pope Leo XIV for proposing the Vatican as a venue for peace negotiations between Ukraine and Russia to address Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine. Source: ANSA, as reported by European Pravda Details: Meloni emphasised the need for a process that ensures a just and lasting peace, while taking into account essential security guarantees for Ukraine, the nation under attack. "We must continue insisting on this, and from this vantage point, let me thank His Holiness Pope Leo XIV for his remarks, in which he also suggested that any future peace talks should take place in the Holy See," she continued. Background: The new Pope Leo XIV proposed the Vatican as a platform for negotiations between Ukraine and Russia after it became clear that the talks in Istanbul would not lead to the desired result. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio described the Pope's proposal as "very generous". Support Ukrainska Pravda on Patreon!
The Independent
11-05-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
‘No more war,' Pope Leo pleads to world in first Sunday address at the Vatican
Pope Leo XIV has appealed to world leaders to pursue peace, and not war, in his first Sunday address to crowds in St. Peter's Square. The new pope, formally cardinal Robert Prevost, called for an "authentic and lasting peace" in Ukraine, a ceasefire in Gaza, and the release of all Israeli hostages. The Chicago-born pontiff also welcomed fragile ceasefire agreement signed by India and Pakistan on Saturday. "No more war," the pope said, delivering his speech in Italian. Wearing a simple white cassock of the papacy and his silver pectoral cross, he repeated a frequent call of the late Pope Francis and noted the recent 80th anniversary of the end of World War Two. Pope Leo said today's world was living through "the dramatic scenario of a Third World War being fought piecemeal", again repeating a phrase coined by his predecessor. Nearly 100,000 people gathered in St. Peter's Square and on the Via della Conciliazione leading to the Vatican to hear the new pontiff's first Sunday address. They broke into applause at the call for peace on what was a joyous occasion despite his solemn message. It was the first time that Leo had returned to the loggia since he first appeared to the world on Thursday evening following his election as pope, the first from the United States. The new pope said he carried in his heart the "suffering of the beloved people of Ukraine', and he appealed for negotiations to reach an "authentic, just and lasting peace". Leo also said he was "profoundly saddened" by the war in Gaza, calling for an immediate ceasefire, humanitarian aid and the release of the remaining hostages held by the Hamas militant group in the besieged strip. He added, however: "There are so many other conflicts in the world." Leo also noted that Sunday was Mother's Day in many countries and wished all mothers, 'including those in heaven', a Happy Mother's Day. The crowd, filled with marching bands in town for a special Jubilee weekend, erupted in cheers and music as the bells of St. Peter's Basilica tolled. On Saturday evening, the pope made his first trip outside the Vatican to visit a Catholic shrine and pay respects at the tomb of his predecessor Francis. At the end of the visit there, the pope told those in the shrine that he wanted to come to pray for guidance in the first days of his papacy, according to a Vatican statement. The 69-year-old Chicago-born missionary was elected 267th pope on Thursday following the death of Francis on 21 April.
CNA
09-05-2025
- General
- CNA
From Chicago to Chiclayo: Peruvian town hails adoptive son and pope
CHICLAYO: Residents in the Peruvian town of Chiclayo chant "long live the pope!" hailing the election of their adoptive son, who for years lived, ate, and prayed among them. Pope Leo XIV spent eight years as a bishop close to the shores of the Pacific, becoming a Peruvian citizen in the process. For Chiclayo locals, he is as much theirs as he is a Chicagoan. "It's a magical day," said Lula Botey, a realtor and one of a crowd chanting, praying, and applauding his selection around St. Mary's Cathedral. Some of Leo's first words as pontiff uttered from the balcony overlooking St. Peter's Square, were to acknowledge this dusty town on the other side of the world. "Greetings to everyone and especially to my dear diocese of Chiclayo," he said in fluent and modestly accented Spanish. For Botey it was an emotional and unexpected moment. "It was very moving," she told AFP. "We haven't stopped crying". The 45-year-old remembers then Bishop Robert Prevost's "wonderful homilies," during which he "invoked charity and urged politicians to think of the common good". Others in this city of 600,000 inhabitants, remember a "kind," "humble" man who was "close to the people". "He is a person of great kindness," said 57-year-old Luis Cherco, remembering someone who would "greet you in the street". "I really feel very, very excited. You can feel the emotion I have," he added. "The hands of God are here, they are in the Vatican, and they are in Chiclayo now, aren't they?" "THE POPE ATE HERE" On the cathedral's steps, Father Juan Mechan Sanchez leads an impromptu prayer, the Lord's Prayer. A quickly produced poster bearing the image of the new pontiff is brandished nearby, with the inscription: "The pope has a Chiclayo heart!" People rush to pose in front of it. It was around Chiclayo that the now pope once posed for photos riding a horse, and donned boots to face the region's sudden downpours. Bernardo Victor Heredia David, an 81-year-old former theater teacher, still struggles to believe his former bishop is now pope. "We didn't expect it, truly," he said incredulously, recalling a one-on-one conversation with his pastor after his wife passed away in 2022. He is a "very simple" man whose "familiarity made you feel good, and who allowed many people to get closer to God". The new pope has already made Chiclayo known to the world, it is now famous in Peru for more than its food. A few steps from the cathedral, the Las Americas restaurant already displays a sign reading: "The pope ate here". Manager Rodrigo Couto Vasquez enthusiastically recalls the pontiff's taste for good food, notably the local chicharron - in this case fried chicken. He was also known to enjoy goat, duck with rice and Peru's national obsession ceviche, a dish of citrus-marinated seafood served cured and cold.
