Vatican City - Pope Leo XIV called humanitarian aid on Wednesday to reach the Gaza Strip and cause "heartbreaking" losses to his people as he presided over his first regular audience at St. Peter's Square.

The Vatican said about 40,000 people were present, a few days after 200,000 people participated in the first American pope in history on Sunday.

Former Chicago Cardinal Robert Prevost Leo rides the Piazza tour among the audience and stops to bless a few babies. Leo speaks in his native English, his fluent Spanish, and the traditional Italian language of the Pope when speaking to different groups of pilgrims.

"I am more heartfelt to attract people to allow the entry of dignified humanitarian aid in Gaza and end hostilities that are paid by children, the elderly and the patients," he said.

Leo did not mention the plight of the hostages taken by Hamas in the October 7, 2023 attack on southern Israel, as Pope Francis always did.

The average audience on Wednesday was a weekly date, and the Pope has maintained for decades to allow ordinary faithful people to meet the Pope face to face. It features a brief reflection of the subject or passage of scripture by the pope, whose summary is provided by others in different languages, and the pope points specific messages to specific groups of faith.

Encounters that last more than an hour usually end with a brief call for the Pope's current problems or an upcoming event. Leo begins with his now frequent spell, “Peace is with you.”

For this reason, the Italian leader's office said Leo reiterated the Vatican's willingness to hold the next round of ceasefire negotiations on a phone call with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.

Meloni called after talking to President Donald Trump and other European leaders, who asked her to verify the proposals of the Holy See.

"In the Father, the confirmation of willingness to welcome the talks between the two sides was found, the Prime Minister thanked Pope Leo XIV for his will and his ongoing commitment to peace," Meloni's office said in a statement late Tuesday.

Trump mentioned the Vatican's long-term proposal to host the conversation in a telephone report with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday.

Despite possible low-level negotiations in Rome, it is difficult for Italy to let Putin fly to Rome for any high-level negotiations. Putin is bound by the International Criminal Court's international arrest warrant, and Italy is a founding member of the criminal court and therefore must enforce his arrest warrant.