Pope Leo rallies Catholics worldwide for peace in Gaza and Ukraine Friday
Pope Leo calls Catholics to prayerful action for a "disarmed and disarming peace" in Gaza and Ukraine tomorrow.
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Pope Leo on Wednesday asked Catholics to dedicate Friday, August 22, to prayer and solidarity for peace in Gaza and Ukraine.
Speaking at his weekly General Audience, he implored God to “grant us peace and justice and to wipe away the tears of those who suffer” in today’s wars.
The date coincides with the feast of the Queenship of Mary, who is also venerated as Queen of Peace.
Peace has been Leo’s organizing theme since his very first “Urbi et Orbi” blessing in May.
From the St. Peter’s balcony, his first words were, “Peace be with you,” calling it “the peace of the Risen Christ, an unarmed and disarming peace.”
He has since made backing Ukraine and Gaza a priority — his first foreign call was to Ukrainian President Zelenskiy, and he has repeatedly appealed for an end to both wars.
Friday’s day of prayer and fasting thus turns that greeting into action for Gaza and Ukraine, reflecting his roots as the first U.S. pope who has witnessed conflicts firsthand as a priest and bishop in Peru and the global leader of the Augustinian order.
Many Americans may regard “peace” as an abstract word; for Leo it is personal.
This mobilization also follows Pope Francis’s example of calling church-wide prayer days for conflicts.
Francis led a prayer vigil for Syria in September 2013, declared Ash Wednesday 2022 a day of prayer for peace in Ukraine, and did the same last October 7 on the anniversary of Hamas’s terrorist attack that killed 800 Israeli civilians and began this awful war.
With war-weary populations around the world, Leo’s message is that faith should translate into solidarity and relief for victims.
For Leo, the first word was peace. Tomorrow, he asks it to become a practice.
And peace for Sudanese
🚨 HELP GAZA SOUP KITCHEN!
Latest update from Hani, who runs the Gaza Soup Kitchen. Hani was living in the U.S. and returned to Gaza to help his people. Gaza. Soup Kitchen not only feeds people every day, they have also opened a medical clinic and a small school. Please donate if you can. Any amount helps.
--Gaza Soup Kitchen GoFundMe--
https://gofund.me/0bd124e5
8/18/25 - ❤️”A quick update from me — and from Gaza. I know it’s been a little while, and I appreciate your patience. Things remain unbearably hard, but because of you, we’re still keeping the fire lit. There’s a little good news: for the first time in months, rice is back in our kitchens. It feels like a feast here. On any given day, up to eight community kitchens are cooking, and when one takes a day off, another keeps going. People are fed because you make it possible. We’ve also restarted distributing food parcels. Yesterday was our first run — about $35 each, filled with half a dozen essential groceries for families too far from our kitchens to get a hot meal…”