Pope on Peace Day: “Let us begin today to disarm our hearts”

Leo XIV on the first day of 2026: “Without desiring good, there would be no point in turning the pages of the calendar”. At Mass on the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God: “The world is not saved by sharpening weapons but by striving to understand and forgive”.

Vatican City (AsiaNews) - ‘Let us begin today to build a year of peace, disarming our hearts and refraining from all violence.’ This is the appeal that Pope Leo XIV made today at the Angelus, addressing the faithful on the first day of 2026, which for the Church, as every year, is World Peace Day, for which Prevost had already released his message in recent days entitled ‘Peace be with you all. Towards an unarmed and disarming peace’.

‘As the months repeat themselves,’ the pontiff commented at the Angelus, ‘the Lord invites us to renew our time, finally ushering in an era of peace and friendship among all peoples. Without this desire for good, it would make no sense to turn the pages of the calendar and fill our diaries.’

‘The Jubilee, which is about to end,’ he added, "has taught us how to cultivate hope for a new world: by converting our hearts to God, so as to transform wrongs into forgiveness, pain into consolation, and resolutions of virtue into good works. It is in this way, in fact, that God himself dwells in history and saves it from oblivion, giving the world the Redeemer: Jesus. He is the Only Begotten Son who becomes our brother, enlightening the consciences of good will, so that we can build the future as a welcoming home for every man and woman who comes into the world."

Recalling that 2026 marks the eighth centenary of the death of St Francis, the Pope expressed his desire to extend "to each person his blessing, taken from Sacred Scripture: “May the Lord bless you and keep you; may he show you his face and have mercy on you; may he turn his gaze upon you and give you peace”.

Earlier, Leo XIV had presided over Mass in St Peter's Basilica on the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God. ‘The world,’ he said in his homily, ‘is not saved by sharpening swords, judging, oppressing or eliminating our brothers and sisters, but rather by striving tirelessly to understand, forgive, liberate and welcome everyone, without calculation and without fear.’

‘This,’ he added, ‘is the face of God that Mary allowed to be formed and grow in her womb, completely changing her life. To do so, she too lowered all defences, renouncing expectations, demands and guarantees, as mothers know how to do, consecrating her life without reserve to the Son she had received by grace, so that she in turn could give him back to the world.’