On top of the weighty tasks assumed by Pope Leo XIV upon his election as pontiff, the Middle East's most senior churchmen have assigned him another: to help bring peace to the region. Clerics from the Eastern Church are urging the new pope to build bridges between not only worshippers in the Middle East,

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Leo XIV vowed to take “every effort” Wednesday to work for peace in the Middle East and Ukraine and to actively promote the spirituality and traditions of the eastern rite churches, those Catholic communities with origins in the Mideast and eastern Europe that have been decimated by years of conflict and persecution.

Pope Francis, long an advocate for human rights and peace in the Middle East, died on Monday at 88 after a bout of ... Since October 2023, the pope held near-daily calls with Reverend Gabriel Romanelli, the priest of the only Catholic church in Gaza.