Overview
- Delivering his Easter blessing from St. Peter's on Sunday, the Pope urged people holding weapons to put them down and pressed those with power to wage war to choose peace.
- He announced a public prayer vigil for peace at St. Peter's Basilica on Saturday, April 11.
- At the Good Friday Via Crucis at the Colosseum, he carried the cross through all 14 stations as meditations warned that every authority will answer to God for starting or ending wars.
- The Vatican said he held phone calls with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and Israel's Isaac Herzog to urge a halt to fighting, renewed diplomatic channels, and protection of civilians.
- The Italian bishops declared that God rejects war in their Easter message, and President Sergio Mattarella and other leaders sent greetings that stressed dialogue and moderation.