Pope Leo XIV pledges to ‘build bridges’ in 1st remarks as pontiff
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(VATICAN CITY) — Pope Leo XIV’s first message to the world shortly after becoming the new pontiff focused on bringing more peace to the world and connections.
The new pope stood and admired the huge, cheering crowd after stepping out onto the balcony of St. Peter’s Basicala.
“This is the first greeting of the risen Christ. May the peace be with you,” Leo said in Italian, before taking a break amid cheers. “This is the peace of the risen Christ.”
The pope gave his regards for his predecessor, Pope Francis, who passed away on a day after Easter.
“Of course we preserve our prays for Pope Francis,” he said.
Leo spoke about the community going forward “hand and hand with God.” The pope stressed unity and community and encouraged followers to continue in Francis’ mission.
“We have to be a church that works together to build bridges and to keep our arms open, like this very piazza, welcoming,” he said.
Leo, who did missionary work in South America, paid tribute to the people of Peru and the citizens of Rome.
The new pope also thanked the cardinals who elected him as Francis’ successor before reciting the “Hail Mary” prayer.
ABC News’ Julia Jacobo contributed to this report.
(MOSCOW) — A failed Soviet-era spacecraft that became trapped in Earth’s orbit by mistake more than 50 years ago is expected to crash back down onto the planet in a matter of days, according to space experts.
Cosmos 482 was launched in 1972 as part of the Soviet Union’s Venera program, which intended to explore Venus, according to NASA.
The unmanned spacecraft experienced a successful initial launch on March 31, 1972, and temporarily orbited Earth.
However, it did not achieve sufficient velocity to launch into a Venus transfer trajectory, NASA said, and the payload — or the portion of the craft significantly related to the craft’s primary mission — was unable to exit Earth’s orbit.
Astronomers hypothesize that a malfunction on a timer caused the engine to burn prematurely, NASA said.
The spacecraft then broke into four pieces. Two of the pieces, which remained in low orbit, decayed within 48 hours. Orbital decay refers to an incremental decrease in altitude, gradually closing a craft’s distance to Earth, according to NASA.
The other two pieces — including the large lander probe — became stuck in Earth’s higher orbit. It has experienced orbital decay for decades, NASA said, and that decay has brought it close enough to reenter the planet’s atmosphere around May 10.
Because the probe was designed to withstand entry into Venus’ atmosphere — which is 90 times denser than Earth’s — it is possible that parts of it could survive reentry and continue onward to the planet’s surface, according to NASA.
The risk of Cosmos 482 striking people on the ground is low — but not impossible, Jonathan McDowell, an astronomer at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, wrote on his website last month.
“No need for major concern, but you wouldn’t want it bashing you on the head,” McDowell wrote.
The lander probe is expected to reenter Earth’s atmosphere between Friday and Sunday, NASA said. The craft is about 3.2 feet across and weighs about 1,100 pounds.
As of Tuesday, the landing location was estimated to be anywhere between 52 N and 52 S latitude. This large swath contains the United States, as well as most of the continents on Earth.
The time and location of a return to Earth will likely be predicted more accurately as reentry nears, according to NASA.
Astronomers are increasingly monitoring space junk left near Earth during launches of satellites and other spacecraft. There are currently more than 1.2 million known pieces of space debris, 50,000 of which measure more than 4 inches across, according to a 2025 report by the European Space Agency.
“Even if we created no new space debris, it would not be enough to prevent a runaway series of collisions and fragmentations,” the ESA said in a statement.
Steve Witkoff, special envoy to the Middle East. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
(LONDON) — In his first public remarks on the proposed 30-day ceasefire in Ukraine, President Vladimir Putin said Russia is “for it” but that he wants his own security guarantees.
Putin raised questions regarding a 30-day ceasefire during a press briefing in Moscow on Thursday, as President Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff landed in the city to discuss the proposal.
“It seems to me, it would be very good for the Ukrainian side to reach a truce for at least 30 days. And we are for it. But there is a nuance,” Putin said, highlighting concerns regarding Russia’s Kursk region, where Ukrainian forces pushed into last year in a surprise offensive but in recent weeks have seen Russian forces retake significant ground.
“If we stop the hostilities for 30 days, what does it mean? Does it mean that everyone who is there will leave without a fight?” Putin said. “Or the Ukrainian leadership will give them an order to lay down their arms and just surrender? How will it be? It is not clear.”
Putin said he also wants guarantees that during a 30-day ceasefire, Ukraine will not regroup, and he wondered who would determine if there were any violations of a ceasefire.
“These are all issues that require careful investigation from both sides,” he said.
Putin suggested Russia should talk with Trump to discuss his concerns, while adding, “But the idea itself is to end this conflict with peaceful means. We support it.”
At the top of his remarks, the president thanked Trump “for his attention to Ukraine’s settlement.”
“We believe that this ceasefire should lead to a long-term peace and eliminate the initial causes of this crisis,” Putin said.
Trump’s Middle East envoy landed in Moscow on Thursday morning for discussions on the proposed 30-day ceasefire in Ukraine — a step leaders in Kyiv and Washington, D.C., hope will facilitate a larger peace deal to end Russia’s three-year-old invasion of its neighbor.
Witkoff’s trip is “part of our continued efforts to press Russia to agree to a ceasefire and stop its brutal war against Ukraine,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters at a Wednesday briefing.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov confirmed that American negotiators were traveling to Moscow on Thursday. “Contacts are planned,” Peskov told a press briefing, adding of the potential outcomes, “We will not prejudge, we will tell you later.”
Witkoff will meet with Putin on Thursday night in a closed format, according to Russian foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov.
Putin will not speak with Trump on Thursday, according to Ushakov.
U.S. and Ukrainian officials agreed to a total 30-day ceasefire during talks in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, earlier this week. The ball is now “truly in their court,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said of Russia following the talks in Jeddah.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wrote on Telegram of the ceasefire plan, “Ukraine accepts this proposal, we consider it positive, we are ready to take this step. The United States of America needs to convince Russia to do so.”
“We agree, and if the Russians agree, the silence will take effect at that very moment,” he added. “An important element in today’s discussions is America’s readiness to restore defense assistance to Ukraine and intelligence support.”
Zelenskyy said Ukraine is ready for peace while Russia seeks to “postpone peace.”
“Regrettably, for more than a day already, the world has yet to hear a meaningful response from Russia to the proposals made,” he said on X on Thursday. “This once again demonstrates that Russia seeks to prolong the war and postpone peace for as long as possible. We hope that U.S. pressure will be sufficient to compel Russia to end the war.”
The Kremlin had so far been noncommittal on the U.S.-Ukrainian proposal. Officials were “scrutinizing” the publicly released statements, Peskov said on Wednesday. Russia, he added, “doesn’t want to get ahead of itself” on the potential ceasefire.
Ushakov — who took part in last month’s meeting with U.S. negotiators in Saudi Arabia — described the proposed ceasefire as “a hasty document.”
“It should be worked on, and our position should also be considered and taken into account,” he told journalists. “For now, only the Ukrainian approach is outlined there,” Ushakov added, suggesting the 30-day pause in fighting would be an opportunity for Ukrainian forces to regroup.
“We believe that our goal is a long-term peaceful settlement, we are striving for it, a peaceful settlement that takes into account the legitimate interests of our country, our known concerns,” Ushakov said. “Some steps that imitate peaceful actions, it seems to me, no one needs in this situation.”
Ushakov said he outlined Russia’s position to national security adviser Mike Waltz. “I myself have recently been in fairly regular telephone contact with Mike Waltz,” he said. “Yesterday he called me and informed me about the main results of the talks with the Ukrainian delegation in Jeddah.”
ABC News’ Tanya Stukalova, Joe Simonetti and Will Gretsky contributed to this report.
(LONDON) — Iranian officials confirmed Monday that Tehran would hold “indirect” high level talks with U.S. representatives in Oman this weekend regarding Iran’s nuclear program, though appeared to contradict President Donald Trump’s assertion that the negotiations are “direct” in nature.
Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Monday, “We’re having direct talks with Iran, and they’ve started. It’ll go on Saturday. We have a very big meeting, and we’ll see what can happen.”
“You know, a lot of people say, ‘Oh, maybe you’re going through surrogates or you’re not dealing directly. You’re dealing through other countries.’ No, we’re dealing with them directly. And, maybe a deal is going to be made,” Trump said.
Asked on Tuesday whether the talks would indeed be direct, a White House National Security spokesperson told ABC News, “The president was clear in his remarks.”
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi confirmed that a meeting will take place in Oman on April 12, though stressed they would be “indirect high-level talks.”
“It is as much an opportunity as it is a test,” Araghchi said in a post to social media.
Iranian government spokesperson Fatemeh Mohajerani also told a Tuesday press conference that the coming talks with the U.S. will be “indirect.”
“We believe in negotiations,” she said, as quoted by the state-run Islamic Republic News Agency. “We had previously stated that if the language of respect is used, we will negotiate.”
“Details will emerge during the negotiations,” Mohajerani added. “As negotiations have not started yet, there are no details that we can share now,” she said.
“As a negotiator party with an equal perspective toward the talks, what matters to us is focusing on our national interests, anything that improves the situation for our people, and the topics that have previously been discussed. Hopefully, we will have wise negotiations ahead,” she added.
The U.S. and Iran have engaged in indirect talks several times in recent years. The country has traditionally played a mediating role between Washington and Tehran, including during talks held there in 2023.
Iranian officials have so far refused Trump’s offer to engage in direct talks. President Masoud Pezeshkian said in March that “although direct negotiations between the two parties are rejected, it has been stated that the path for indirect negotiations is open.”
If direct talks happen as Trump said, they would be the first publicly-known direct negotiations between the U.S. and Iran since the president exited the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action nuclear deal in 2018.
In recent weeks, Trump has threatened potential military action against Iran to keep it from developing nuclear weapons.
“I think everybody agrees that doing a deal would be preferable to doing the obvious,” the president said Monday, speaking alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “And the obvious is not something that I want to be involved with, or, frankly, that Israel wants to be involved with if they can avoid it,” he said.
“So, we’re going to see if we can avoid it,” Trump continued. “But it’s getting to be very dangerous territory. And hopefully those talks will be successful. And I think it would be in Iran’s best interests if they are successful.”
ABC News’ Shannon K. Kingston and Michelle Stoddart contributed to this report.
