The pope entered the church and stopped to pray, first in front of the altar and then in front of the image of the Virgin Mary, where he recited Pope John Paul II’s prayer to the Mother of Good Counsel, according to the Vatican press room.

Leo XIV addressed crowd of around 100,000 people at St Peter's Basilica in his first Sunday noon blessing as pope Pope Leo XIV called for a genuine and just peace in Ukraine and an immediate ceasefire in Gaza,