Pope: ‘unarmed and disarming’ witnesses of a coming peace
Pope Leo’s message for the World Day of Peace on 1 January 2026 has been released, inspired by the words he spoke immediately after his election. He decries the “confrontational logic” that considers “a fault not to be sufficiently prepared for war.” He highlights the arms race and the failure of “political and military leaders” to take responsibility. Instead, as Saint Augustine said, “those who truly love peace also love the enemies of peace.”
Vatican City (AsiaNews) – “Peace be with you all!" said Pope Leo XIV in his first greeting to the world as he appeared in St Peter's Square after the Conclave. This is an “ancient” greeting, timely in many cultures.
“I would like to reiterate that this is the peace of the risen Christ – a peace that is unarmed and disarming, humble and persevering. It comes from God who loves us all unconditionally,” says the pontiff in his message for the 59th World Day of Peace, which is celebrated on 1 January 2026.
This year, the message was published in Russian as well as Ukrainian, in addition to the traditional translations, to reach those places where peace is particularly longed for.
It is precisely those first words that inspire the coming World Day of Peace, contrasting "darkness and light," which the pontiff describes in the text released today as “an experience that unsettles us and affects us amid the trials we face”.
Peace has "the power to make us more lucid”, capable of conquering wars and violence, and opposing them with the "breath of the eternal”. Indeed, “while to evil we cry out ‘Enough’, to peace we whisper ‘Forever’.
The Risen One leads us to peace. “Sustained by this conviction, even amid what Pope Francis called ‘a third world war fought piecemeal’, peacemakers continue to resist the spread of darkness, standing as sentinels in the night,” Leo says.
For him, “whether we have the gift of faith or feel we lack it, let us open ourselves to peace!” While there is a risk that it will be considered “impossible and beyond our reach”, it still is a “presence and a journey.”
“Even when it is endangered within us and around us, like a small flame threatened by a storm, we must protect it, never forgetting the names and stories of those who have borne witness to it. Peace is a principle that guides and defines our choices,” Leo explains, even where "only rubble remains and despair seems inevitable”.
Yet, the "way" of peace can provoke “unease and fear." The disciples experienced this when Jesus asked them for a "nonviolent response" to the violence he had suffered before his capture. “His fight was unarmed,” the pope states.
“Christians must together bear prophetic witness to this novelty, mindful of the tragedies in which they have too often been complicit.”
If peace is treated “as a distant ideal, we cease to be scandalized when it is denied, or even when war is waged in its name. We seem to lack those ‘right ideas’, the well-considered words and the ability to say that peace is near. When peace is not a reality that is lived, cultivated and protected, then aggression spreads into domestic and public life.”
A certain “confrontational logic” in the world considers it a “fault” not to be sufficiently prepared for violence. This “now dominates global politics, deepening instability and unpredictability day by day,” the pope said.
“The idea of the deterrent power of military might, especially nuclear deterrence, is based on the irrationality of relations between nations, built not on law, justice and trust, but on fear and domination by force.”
The message notes that in 2024, global military spending increased by 9.4 per cent compared to the previous year. But as Saint Augustine says, “those who truly love peace also love the enemies of peace.” This is a call to hear and meet others without any preconditions.
This is what the Second Vatican Council also proposed 60 years ago with the constitution Gaudium et spes, which is still relevant in describing “warfare”.
In the document, cited by Pope Leo, “the bishops of the world gathered together to implore everyone, especially government leaders and military advisors, to give unceasing consideration to their immense responsibilities before God and before the whole human race.”
For the pontiff, “we must acknowledge that further technological advances and the military implementation of artificial intelligence have worsened the tragedy of armed conflict.”
As a result, “There is even a growing tendency among political and military leaders to shirk responsibility”. This is followed by “an unprecedented and destructive betrayal of the legal and philosophical principles of humanism”.
Leo XIV cites the encyclical Fratelli Tutti for its contribution to “awakened conscience and critical thought” inspired by Saint Francis of Assisi. What is more, as Pope Francis put it, “human fragility has the power to make us more lucid about what endures and what passes, what brings life and what kills.”
Leo also mentioned the “integral disarmament” advocated by Pope John XXIII. “An essential service that religions must render to a suffering humanity is to guard against the growing temptation to weaponize even thoughts and words,” he explained.
Finally, the pope expressed hope that every community in the world may become “a ‘house of peace,’ where one learns how to defuse hostility through dialogue, where justice is practiced and forgiveness is cherished.”
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27/10/2023 15:23
