Some 270,000 pilgrims pray for Pope Leo and peace in Portugal's Fatima shrine

Church officials said around 270,000 pilgrims came from all over Portugal, Spain, Poland and from further afield nations such as the U.S., Paraguay, Mauritius, packing one of Catholicism's most famous shrines located less than 150 kilometers (95 miles) north of Lisbon.

In his first Sunday address to crowds in St. Peter's Square since his election, Pope Leo appealed to the world's major powers for "no more war", while on Monday Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said he had spoken by phone with the pontiff about ceasefire proposals to end its war with Russia.

Portuguese pilgrim Conceicao Teixeira, 77, said she hoped Leo would continue his predecessor Pope Francis' legacy of "humanity and sincerity."

"The hearts (of men) are very hard, people do not stop to think and there is so much inhumanity, indifference and iniquity," she told Reuters, just before the candlelight procession, the highlight of the evening, began.

Christel, a 41-year-old pilgrim for Mauritius, said Pope Leo "seems like someone who will make peace and try to get everyone along with him".

Every May 12 and 13, thousands of pilgrims head to the Fatima sanctuary, many of them walking long distances, to celebrate the first of the reported apparitions of the Virgin Mary to three shepherd children in 1917.

The Catholic Church believes she appeared six times that year to the children, revealing to them the so-called three secrets of Fatima.

Paraguayan Oscar Guarin, 52, said he saw Leo as a pope "very close to the poor and very simple" in the same way as Pope Francis.

"We already like him," he said.