"Let's get together and look for solutions; there are so many innocent people dying," said Pope Leo XIV in a brief interview with Rai, Italian public television. The exchange took place late in the morning of June 19, 2025, after the Pope’s visit to the enclave of Santa Maria di Galeria, north of Rome.
“Let's get together and look for solutions” for peace, the Pope told a reporter from Italian news outlet RAI, after visiting Vatican Radio.
This interview, which lasted less than two minutes and was broadcast on the news, is the first interview given by the Pope since his election on May 8, 2025.
“I want to renew my appeal for peace”
Awaited by a team of journalists at the exit of the Vatican enclave, the Pope was asked about the global geopolitical situation, which he spontaneously described as “really worrying.”
“I try to follow what is happening in so many places around the world,” he said, citing the Middle East in particular, while stressing that the problems were “not limited to that region.”
The Pope reiterated his “appeal for peace,” urging “every effort to avoid the use of weapons” and encouraging the use of “diplomatic instruments.”
“Let us come together and seek solutions; there are so many innocent people dying,” he insisted.
Vatican Radio and solar power
The pontiff also said that his trip to the outskirts of Rome was “a wonderful opportunity to get out of the city a little” on this Vatican holiday — the Feast of Corpus Christi.
When the interviewer asked him to confirm the report that he’d listened to Vatican Radio on shortwave radio while a missionary in Peru, he acknowledged that it was true. However, he added, Vatican Radio had also accompanied him during his travels around the globe as the superior of the Augustinians. He described it almost nostalgically as “such an important” service that had always provided him with both news and beautiful messages.
The Pope mentioned the photovoltaic power plant project currently under development on this nearly 1050-acre enclave belonging to the Vatican, repeatedly referring to Pope Francis’ emphasis on ecological responsibility. He explained that the Holy See still had to reach an agreement with the Italian government, but said that the project, which would supply electricity to the radio station and the entire Vatican territory, could be a “very important example” of the Church's commitment to the environment, recalling the urgency of climate change.
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