File:Newly elected Catholic Pope speaks to the media for the first time.jpeg

In his first audience with journalists as the pontiff, Leo renewed pleas for a more peaceful world

May 12, 2025

Via the AP / NYT / WaPo / Vatican Media / International News

Pope Leo XIV used his first audience with news outlets on Monday to appeal to journalists to help cool the heated language of today’s media landscape.

The comments once again echoed some of the themes highlighted by his predecessor, Pope Francis, as Leo backed a free press to enable informed decisions and renewed his calls for a more peaceful world.

“Let us disarm communication of all prejudice and resentment, fanaticism and even hatred; let us free it from aggression,” Leo told more than 1,000 journalists, including the Vatican Press corps, who were gathered in an auditorium. “We do not need loud, forceful communication but rather communication that is capable of listening."

Leo spoke of the need for people to be informed in order to make sound decisions and of “the precious gift of free speech and of the press.”

He added: “Let us disarm words and we will help to disarm the world. Disarmed and disarming communication allows us to share a different view of the world and to act in a manner consistent with our human dignity.”

He offered special thanks to journalists who have put their lives and liberty at risk to cover global conflicts, sometimes dying in the process.

“Let me … reiterate today the church’s solidarity with journalists who are imprisoned for seeking and reporting the truth while also asking for their release,” he said. “The church recognizes in these witnesses — I am thinking of those who report on war even at the cost of their lives — the courage of those who defend dignity, justice and the right of people to be informed, because only informed individuals can make free choices.”

He echoed Francis in warning of the benefits and risks of artificial intelligence, and he commended reporting that sought to expose injustice and the plight of those in poverty. “I ask you to choose consciously and courageously the path of communication in favor of peace."

Leo, the first (Ed: North) American to lead the Roman Catholic Church and its 1.4 billion faithful, has spent his first days pledging to align himself with “ordinary people” and decrying aggression and conflict. As Vatican observers watch for clues on how he plans to lead, Leo has already evoked (Ed: South American Pope) Francis, who spoke out tirelessly for the marginalized...

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