Pope Leo XIV called on Thursday for a commitment to forgiveness and dialogue as paths to building peace, and warned that the world is not transformed through violence or confrontation.
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The message was delivered during the first Mass of the year, celebrated in St. Peter’s Basilica, which coincided with the 59th World Day of Peace.
En esta Jornada #oremosjuntos por la #paz; sobre todo entre las naciones ensangrentadas por conflictos y miseria, pero también en nuestras casas, en las familias heridas por la violencia y el dolor. Con la certeza de que Cristo, nuestra esperanza, es el sol de justicia que nunca…
— Papa León XIV (@Pontifex_es) January 1, 2026
In his homily, the pontiff maintained that salvation does not come through weapons or subjugation, but through the constant effort to understand, reconcile, and welcome everyone without fear or calculation.
To reinforce his reflection, he quoted St. Augustine and emphasized that one of the essential characteristics of God is the gratuitousness of his love, manifested in the image of a defenseless child in the manger.
Leo XIV, celebrating his first New Year as Pope after his election in May, emphasized that the beginning of 2026 represents an opportunity to start a renewed life, marked by the capacity to forgive. Addressing some 5,000 faithful, he described the new year as “an open path, waiting to be discovered, on which to venture, by grace, free and bearers of freedom, forgiven and dispensers of forgiveness.”
In this spirit, he encouraged believers to deepen their faith and embrace a concept of peace that is “disarmed and disarming,” especially for the benefit of the most vulnerable. This call takes on special significance in the context of the Jubilee initiated by his predecessor, Pope Francis, which is approaching its close on January 6.
The World Day of Peace, celebrated every January 1, also served as an opportunity to recall the first message Leo XIV published on December 8 for this commemoration. That text, entitled “Peace be with you all,” In his address, “Toward a Peace That Is Disarmed and Disarming,” the Pope warned against the rise of hopeless rhetoric and expressed concern over the increase in global military spending.
En la Maternidad Divina de María vemos el encuentro de dos inmensas realidades “desarmadas”: la de Dios que renuncia a todo privilegio de su divinidad para nacer según la carne (cf. Flp 2,6-11) y la de la persona que con confianza abraza totalmente su voluntad, rindiéndole…
— Papa León XIV (@Pontifex_es) January 1, 2026
He cautioned that in 2024, the global arms budget grew by 9.4%, reflecting an enormous economic effort directed toward rearmament, despite the lessons learned from the wars of the last century. For the Pope, treating peace as a distant ideal ultimately normalizes war and weakens the capacity to imagine alternative solutions.
Leo XIV also expressed concern about the growing international instability and the recurring use of the argument of external threats to justify military buildup.
Faced with this scenario, he insisted on the need to recover a language and a vision that bring peace closer to daily life and transform it into a real commitment, both for the coming months and for all of Christian life.
From teleSUR English via This RSS Feed.