VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Leo XIV on Monday called for the release of imprisoned journalists and affirmed the “precious gift of free speech and the press” in an audience with some of the 6,000 journalists who descended on Rome to cover his election as the first American pontiff.

Some conservatives and traditionalist Catholics are cautiously optimistic over the historic election of Pope Leo XIV, hopeful he will return doctrinal rigor to the papacy, even as progressives sense he will continue Pope Francis’ reformist agenda.