Pope Leo XIV on Wednesday (May 21) appealed for Israel to allow humanitarian aid to enter the Gaza strip, calling the situation in the Palestinian enclave "yet more worrying and saddening."

"I renew my appeal … to allow for the entry of fair humanitarian help and to bring to an end the hostilities, the high price of which is paid by children, the elderly and the sick," the pope said during his weekly general audience in St. Peter's Square.

The pope held his first general audience, since being elected two weeks ago, at the Vatican on Wednesday.