Vatican city: In his first Easter Sunday message since assuming the papacy, Pope Leo XIV urged world leaders to choose peace and lay down their weapons instead of unleashing wars. "Let those who have weapons lay them down! Let those who have the power to unleash wars choose peace! Not a peace imposed by force, but through dialogue! Not with the desire to dominate others, but to encounter them!" said the pontiff, speaking from the balcony of St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican.

According to Anadolu Agency, the Pope expressed concern over the world's growing indifference to violence, noting that people are becoming resigned to it and indifferent to the deaths of thousands, and to the repercussions of hatred and division that conflicts sow. He emphasized the economic and social consequences that arise from such conflicts.

Pope Leo XIV highlighted the issue of an increasing "globalization of indifference" and urged people not to continue being indifferent or to resign themselves to evil. "We cannot continue to be indifferent! And we cannot resign ourselves to evil!" he stated.

In his message, the Pope called for the abandonment of desires for conflict, domination, and power and implored for divine peace in a world ravaged by wars. He addressed the hatred and indifference that make people feel powerless in the face of evil. Pope Leo XIV assumed leadership of the Catholic Church last May.