“Peace exists; it wants to dwell within us. It has the gentle power to enlighten and expand our understanding; it resists and overcomes violence.” Pope Leo XIV opens his Message for the World Day of Peace with this reassuring affirmation. The Message takes its title and inspiration from the greeting pronounced on the evening of his election to the See of Peter: “Peace be with you all: towards an ‘unarmed and disarming’ peace”. The background is the current global scenario, marked by light and darkness alike, in which peacemakers “continue to resist the spread of darkness, standing as sentinels in the night”, despite the drama of what Pope Francis has called “a third world war fought piecemeal”. At the heart of the Message is an appeal for integral disarmament, sixty years after the Second Vatican Council, and a call to political leaders and religious authorities to choose “the disarming path of diplomacy” and dialogue, as a hoped-for fruit of the Jubilee of Hope.
No to “narratives devoid of hope”. In the opening section of his Message, the Pope warns against “a partial and distorted view of the world, disfigured by darkness and fear”. These are “narratives devoid of hope”, presented as realistic, which instead call for openness to peace.
“Dear brothers and sisters, whether we have the gift of faith or feel we lack it, let us open ourselves to peace!”,
the appeal: “Let us welcome it and recognize it, rather than believing it to be impossible and beyond our reach”. “When peace is not a reality that is lived, cultivated and protected, then aggression spreads into domestic and public life”, Leo XIV observes, denouncing how “in the relations between citizens and rulers, it could even be considered a fault not to be sufficiently prepared for war, not to react to attacks, and not to return violence for violence. Far beyond the principle of legitimate defense, such confrontational logic now dominates global politics, deepening instability and unpredictability day by day”. The peace of the risen Jesus, by contrast, is unarmed, “because his was an unarmed struggle in the midst of concrete historical, political and social circumstances”. With him, Christians are called “together [to] bear prophetic witness to this novelty”, mindful of the tragedies in which “they have too often been complicit”, in a world dominated by uncertainty and marked by “a great sense of powerlessness”.
“When we treat peace as a distant ideal, we cease to be scandalized when it is denied, or even when war is waged in its name”, the Pope warns.
Yes to “integral disarmament”. “Global military expenditure increased by 9.4% in 2024 compared to the previous year, confirming the trend of the last ten years and reaching a total of $2718 billion (or 2.5% of global GDP)”, the Pope notes. Alongside the enormous economic effort devoted to rearmament, he also stigmatizes “a shift in educational policies”: “rather than fostering a culture of memory that preserves the hard-won awareness of the twentieth century and the millions of victims, we now see communication campaigns and educational programs that spread a perception of threats and promote only an armed notion of defense and security”. “It is no coincidence”, Leo XIV observes, “that repeated calls to increase military spending, and the choices that follow, are presented by many government leaders as a justified response to external threats”.
Peace is not a utopia. “Decisions about life and death are increasingly ‘delegated’ to machines”, the Pope writes, denouncing the “unprecedented and destructive” spiral triggered by further technological advances and the military implementation of artificial intelligence, which “have worsened the tragedy of armed conflict” and are provoking “a growing tendency among political and military leaders to shirk responsibility”. From this perspective, integral disarmament is “an essential service that religions must render to a suffering humanity”, by guarding “against the growing temptation to weaponize even thoughts and words”.
“To drag the language of faith into political battles, to bless nationalism, and to justify violence and armed struggle in the name of religion” are “forms of blasphemy that profane the holy name of God”, the Pope warns believers.
“Now more than ever, we must show that peace is not a utopia”, he urges.
Diplomacy and dialogue. Those entrusted with public responsibility, the Pope says, have the task of promoting “more humane relations between States throughout the world”, a task that must be pursued through “mutual trust, sincerity in negotiations and the faithful fulfilment of obligations”, by initiating “sincere, lasting, and beneficial treaties”.
This is “the disarming path of diplomacy, mediation and international law”, a path sadly contradicted by “the growing violations of hard-won treaties”, at a time when what is needed is “the strengthening of supranational institutions, not their delegitimization”.
In a time “of destabilization and conflict”, it is necessary to “encourage and support every spiritual, cultural and political initiative that keeps hope alive”, countering the spread of fatalistic attitudes, “as if the dynamics involved were the product of anonymous impersonal forces or structures independent of the human will”. For if “the best way to dominate and gain control over people is to spread despair and discouragement, even under the guise of defending certain values”, such a strategy must be countered by “self-awareness in civil societies, forms of responsible association, experiences of nonviolent participation, and practices of restorative justice on both a small and large scale”, as Leo XIII had already taught in Rerum Novarum.
