The Cannes film festival kicked off Tuesday with a highly political ceremony that included a tribute to a slain Palestinian photojournalist from Juliette Binoche and a fresh attack on US President Donald Trump from Robert De Niro.

Pope Leo XIV vowed to take "every effort" Wednesday to work for peace in the Middle East and Ukraine and to actively promote the spirituality and traditions of the eastern rite churches, those Catholic communities with origins in the Mideast and eastern Europe that have been decimated by years of conflict and persecution.

"The church needs you!" Leo told a Holy Year audience of eastern rite pilgrims.

Pope Leo XIV on Wednesday offered to mediate between leaders of countries at war, saying that he himself "will make every effort so that this peace may prevail".

"The Holy See is always ready to help bring enemies together, face to face, to talk to one another, so that peoples everywhere may once more find hope and recover the dignity they deserve, the dignity of peace. The peoples of our world desire peace, and to their leaders I appeal with all my heart: Let us meet, let us talk, let us negotiate!" he told a meeting of Eastern Catholic Churches.

Pope Leo XIV celebrated his first Mass on Friday, a day after his historic election as the first North American pope in the Catholic Church's 2,000-year history while congratulations poured in from world leaders and statesmen at the start of his papacy.

On Thursday, Cardinal Robert Prevost emerged onto the loggia of St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican, following the conclave and the appearance of white smoke from the Sistine Chapel chimney, signaling that a new pontiff has been chosen. His election overcame the traditional prohibition against a pope from the United States.

Robert Francis Prevost became the first pope from the United States on Thursday, picking the papal name Leo XIV after cardinals from around the world elected him leader of the world's 1.4 billion Catholics.

U.S. President Donald Trump's threat to slap tariffs on foreign-made movies has left Latin America's burgeoning film industry baffled and fearful.

Cardinals return to the Sistine Chapel on Thursday to resume voting for a new pope after the first conclave ballot failed to find a winner, sending billowing black smoke through the chapel chimney.

Some of the 133 voting cardinals had said they expected a short conclave to replace Pope Francis. But it will likely take a few rounds of voting for one man to secure the two-thirds majority, or 89 ballots, necessary to become the 267th pope.

With all the pomp, drama and solemnity that the Catholic Church can muster, 133 cardinals on Wednesday began centuries-old rituals to elect a successor to Pope Francis, celebrating a morning Mass before opening the most geographically diverse conclave in the faith's 2,000-year history.

The dean of the College of Cardinals, Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, presided over the service, urging the voters to set aside all personal interests and find a pope who prizes unity. The world today needs a leader who can awaken consciences, he said.

Before he died, Pope Francis donated one of his popemobiles to be converted into a mobile health unit to serve the children of Gaza, officials said Monday.

The Jerusalem and Sweden branches of the Vatican's Caritas charitable federation released photos of the repurposed vehicle on Monday. There is no word, though, on when it might be put to use. The donation was announced on the same day that Israel approved plans to seize the Gaza Strip and to stay in the Palestinian territory for an unspecified amount of time.

Cardinals electing a new pope have some fundamental questions to weigh, beyond whether to give the Catholic Church its first Asian or African pontiff, or a conservative or progressive.

Although they come from 70 different countries, the 133 cardinals seem fundamentally united in finding a pope who will be able to make the 2,000-year-old church credible and relevant today, especially to young people.