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.

“The church needs you!” Leo told a Holy Year audience of eastern rite pilgrims.

Eastern-rite Catholics accept the authority of the pope but have many of their own rituals and liturgy. They include the Coptic, Chaldean, Maronite and Eritrean Catholic churches, as well as the Syro-Malabar church in India and Greek Catholic communities that are found across Eastern Europe and the Americas. Unlike Orthodox Christians, these Catholic churches fully recognize papal authority.

In his remarks, Leo acknowledged that many eastern rite Catholics have been forced to flee their homelands because of “war and persecution, instability and poverty.” It was a reference to the exodus of Christians from the Middle East, Iraq and Syria especially, where entire communities have been displaced by years of Islamic extremist violence. Many of these communities in northern Iraq were some of the oldest of the faith, where the dialects of Aramaic — the language of Jesus — are still spoken.

Leo vowed “every effort” to work for peace in those regions, citing in particular the Middle East and Ukraine, and said the Holy See was ready to “help bring enemies together, face to face.”

“Who better than you can sing a song of hope even amid the abyss of violence?” he said. “From the Holy Land to Ukraine, from Lebanon to Syria, from the Middle East to Tigray and the Caucasus, how much violence do we see!”

He praised those Christians who are working at reconciliation even in regions where they are persecuted minorities, and urged them to continue.

“I thank God for those Christians — Eastern and Latin alike — who, above all in the Middle East, persevere and remain in their homelands, resisting the temptation to abandon them,” Leo said. “Christians must be given the opportunity, and not just in words, to remain in their native lands with all the rights needed for a secure existence.”

The audience featured a mix of faithful from around the world, with Lebanese and Ukrainian flags and ululating pilgrims.

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