Pope Leo XIV calls for aid to reach Gaza in first general audience

The general audience on Wednesdays is a weekly appointment that popes have kept for decades to allow ordinary faithful to have a face-to-face encounter with the pontiff

Pope Leo XIV waves as he arrives for his first weekly general audience in St Peter’s Square at the Vatican (Gregorio Borgia/AP)

Pope Leo XIV has called for humanitarian aid to reach the Gaza Strip and for an end to the “heartbreaking” toll on its people, as he presided over his first general audience in St Peter’s Square.

The Vatican said that around 40,000 people were on hand for the audience, which came just days after an estimated 200,000 people attended the inaugural Mass on Sunday for history’s first American pope.