Vatican City - Vatican City (AP) - Pope Leo XIV on Monday called for the release of incarcerated journalists and affirmed “a valuable gift for freedom of speech and the press” among viewers, with 6,000 of whom landed on Rome to cover his election as the first Pontiff in the United States.

Leo entered the Vatican Chutitorium and attended his first meeting with public representatives.

The 69-year-old Augustine missionary was elected last week at a 24-hour meeting, calling on journalists to use words to carry out peace, reject war and speak out.

He expressed solidarity with journalists around the world who were sentenced to jail for trying to find and report the truth. He drew applause from the crowd and he asked them to release.

"The Church recognizes among these witnesses - I am thinking about the courage of those who even report to war at the cost of life - those who are told to defend dignity, justice and people's rights, because only those who know the knowledge can choose freely."

“The suffering of these incarcerated journalists challenges the conscience of the national and international community and calls on all of us to protect freedom of speech and valuable gifts from the press.”

Leo opened a few words in English and joked that if the crowd was still awake and applauding, it was more important than the applause of him.

Turning to Italian, he thanked journalists for covering the work of the Pope’s transition and urged them to use the discourse of peace.

"Peace begins with each of us: from the way we see others, listen to others and talk about others," he said. "In this sense, the way we communicate is crucial: we have to say 'no' to the words and images of war, and we have to reject the war paradigm."

In his brief speech, he reflects on the power of words to do good things, he greets some of the journalists in the front row and shakes hands with the crowd as he leaves the auditorium in the central aisle. He signed a few autographs and posed for several selfies.

Later, reporters shared some of several words they communicated with him, including suggesting that the Vatican plan to continue traveling to Turkey to commemorate the important events in the Catholic-Orthodox relationship: the 1700th anniversary of the first European Commission, NICEA Committee.

Other highlights appeared: the reporter proposed to play doubles in tennis or organize charity games. Leo is a regular tennis player who looks "but we can't invite Sinner", he joked, referring to World One Jannik Sinner, who just plays lines at the Italian Open.

In the 2013 audience, journalists covered the election of the first Latin American pope in history, with Pope Francis explaining his choice after St. Francis of Assisi and his desire for a “church of poor and poor!”

Francis also talked about the value of journalism during his 12-year religious campaign, until January when he called for the release of imprisoned journalists at the media's Holy Year events.