Pope prays at tomb of predecessor during first outing since election
Pope Leo XIV made his first outing since his election on Saturday, making a surprise stop to pray at the tomb of his predecessor.
On Saturday afternoon, the new pontiff travelled to a sanctuary dedicated to the Madonna in the town of Genazzano.
The sanctuary is managed by Augustinian friars, the order the pope belongs to, and has been a place of pilgrimage since the 15th century.
The pontiff’s namesake. Pope Leo XIII, elevated it to a minor basilica and expanded its convent in the early 1900s.
Pope Leo XIV is cheered by residents of Genazzano , near Rome on 10 May. Pic: Vatican Media/AP
After praying, Leo greeted the faithful gathered outside and offered a blessing.
On his way back to the Vatican, he stopped to pray at Pope Francis’s tomb at St Mary Major Basilica.
Earlier in the day, Leo held his first formal audience and said the Catholic Church must take the lead in facing threats to workers, such as AI.
The 69-year-old said the technology posed “new challenges for the defence of human dignity, justice and labour”.
The Pope identified AI as a major challenge to humanity. Pic: Vatican Media/AP
The leader of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics referred to AI as he explained his choice of name to the cardinals who elected him.
He said he identified with his namesake Pope Leo XIII, who was pontiff from 1878 to 1903 and addressed workers’ rights and capitalism at the dawn of the industrial age in the 1891 encyclical Rerum Novarum.
The late pope, who laid the foundation for modern Catholic social thought, criticised both laissez-faire capitalism and state-centric socialism.
“In our own day, the church offers everyone the treasury of its social teaching in response to another industrial revolution and to developments in the field of artificial intelligence that pose new challenges for the defence of human dignity, justice and labour,” Leo said.
The Pope also made clear he will follow in the modernising reforms of his predecessor Pope Francis to make the Catholic Church inclusive, attentive to the faithful, and an institution that looks out for the “least and rejected”.
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Leo said he was fully committed to the reforms of the Second Vatican Council, the 1960s meetings that modernised the church.
Toward the end of his pontificate, Francis became increasingly vocal about the threats to humanity posed by AI and called for an international treaty to regulate it.
Francis brought his message to the G7 summit of world leaders last year, insisting AI must remain human-centric so decisions about when to use weapons or even less-lethal tools always remain made by humans and not machines.
World
Israel confirms Hamas chief Mohammad Sinwar was killed – as group makes counter-offer on ceasefire
Israel has confirmed its forces have killed Hamas’s Gaza chief, Mohammad Sinwar, as US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff called the group’s counter-offer on a ceasefire “totally unacceptable”.
Mohammad Sinwar became the leader of the militant group in the Gaza Strip after his older brother Yahya Sinwar was killed last October.
In a statement, the Israeli military said it had killed Sinwar on 13 May, and was the target of a strike on a hospital in southern Gaza.
Hamas has neither confirmed nor denied his death, but Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told parliament on Wednesday that he had been “eliminated”.
A handout image of Mohammed Sinwar from December 2023. Pic: Israeli Army / Reuters
Hamas seeks changes in US ceasefire proposal
It comes as Hamas said it was seeking amendments to a US-proposed ceasefire deal, offering 10 living Israeli hostages and the bodies of 18 in exchange for Palestinian prisoners.
On Thursday, the White House said Israel agreed to a 60-day ceasefire proposal, which would see the release of nine living hostages and half of the known hostages who have died over the course of a week.
Israel and Hamas would then continue talks to bring the remaining hostages home, but Israel would retain the right to resume military action in Gaza if talks were to break down.
In a statement about the proposal on Saturday, Hamas said its response “aims to achieve a permanent ceasefire, a complete withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, and to ensure the flow of humanitarian aid to our people in the Strip”.
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Israeli ambassador claims ‘no starvation in Gaza’
Hamas offer ‘totally unacceptable’ – Witkoff
Donald Trump’s special Middle East envoy, Mr Witkoff, said on social media that Hamas’s response is “totally unacceptable and only takes us backwards”.
“Hamas should accept the framework proposal we put forward as the basis for proximity talks, which we can begin immediately this coming week,” he added.
Senior Hamas official Basem Naim told Reuters that the group has not rejected the proposal but added Mr Witkoff’s response was “unfair” and showed “complete bias” towards Israel.
Israel has not yet responded to Hamas’ counter-offer, but has previously rejected the conditions and demanded the complete disarmament and dismantling of the group.
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Meanwhile, Gaza aid groups have said dozens of World Food Programme (WFP) trucks carrying flour to Gaza bakeries had been hijacked by armed groups and subsequently looted by people.
The WFP added: “After nearly 80 days of a total blockade, communities are starving and they are no longer willing to watch food pass them by.”
Read more:
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Amjad Al-Shawa, head of an umbrella group representing Palestinian aid groups, said hundreds more trucks were needed and accused Israel of a “systematic policy of starvation”.
Israel denies operating a policy of starvation and says it is facilitating aid deliveries via the controversial Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. Instead, it accuses Hamas of stealing supplies.
At least seven people have died in a train derailment in Russia which happened after a bridge collapsed.
Local authorities have blamed “illegal interference” for the incident in Bryansk region.
The train was travelling from Moscow to Klimov when it came off its tracks, killing the driver and six others. An infant was among 28 people taken to hospital.
Pic: Moscow Transport Prosecutor’s Office
Emergency workers are at the scene attempting to pull survivors from the wreckage.
Russian media reported that the passenger train crashed into the collapsed bridge.
There were a series of clashes with riot police in the French capital after Paris Saint-Germain won the Champions League for the first time on Saturday night.
Flares and fireworks were set off in Paris after PSG beat Inter Milan 5-0 in Munich – the biggest ever victory in a Champions League final.
Around 5,400 police were deployed across Paris after the game, with officers using tear gas and pepper spray on the Champs Elysees.
Pic: AP
Pic: AP
At the top of the Champs-Élysées, a water cannon was used to protect the Place de l’Étoile, near the landmark Arc de Triomphe.
Police said a large crowd not watching the match tried to push through a barrier to make contact with officers.
Some 131 arrests were made, including 30 who broke into a shoe shop on the Champs-Élysées.
Two cars were set alight close to Parc des Princes, police said.
PSG striker Ousmane Dembele appealed for calm in a post-match interview with Canal+, saying: “Let’s celebrate this but not tear everything up in Paris.”
Pics: AP
After the full-time whistle in Germany, thousands of supporters also tried to rush the field at the Allianz Arena.
Police lined up in front of the PSG end of the stadium at the final whistle, but struggled to contain the fans for several minutes when they came down from the stands following the trophy presentation.
Pics: AP
Desire Doue, the 19-year-old who scored two goals and assisted one in the final, said after the game: “I don’t have words. But what I can say is, ‘Thank you Paris,’ we did it.”
Despite being an Olympique de Marseille supporter, French President Emmanuel Macron also said on social media: “A glorious day for PSG!
“Bravo, we are all proud. Paris, the capital of Europe this evening.”
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Mr Macron’s office said the president would receive the players at the Elysee Palace on Sunday.
The team are also expected to parade down the Champs Elysees.
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