Rome, 18 May (LaPresse) – “I wish to express to you, Your Holiness, my heartfelt thanks for your thoughtful expressions of solidarity with the Italian people, who look forward with joy and unanimous affection to welcoming you during your forthcoming pastoral visits to our country.” So wrote the President of the Republic, Sergio Mattarella, in a message sent to Pope Leo XIV one year after the start of his pontificate. “Your invocation of peace, the first that believers and non-believers alike heard you utter as Pontiff, continues to resonate throughout the world, stirring the minds and hearts of all, even those who seem clouded by selfishness and vanity,” he continued. “Your Holiness’s appeals for the silencing of arms and the restoration everywhere of the principles of justice and dialogue inspire hope and hearten all those who, regardless of religious denomination or culture, are deeply troubled by the flippancy with which war is today threatened and sometimes waged, with tragic consequences and unacceptable human costs,” he concludes.