Next week, Pope Leo XIV will complete 100 days as the Successor of Peter. In these weeks, we count that he's publicly spoken of peace around 100 times.
On this 80th anniversary of the bombing of Nagasaki, we take a moment to look at some of what the Pope has said about peace -- it was, after all, the very first word and wish he expressed as Peter.
Peace is the mission of the Church -- She must proclaim this peace, as the Risen Christ did.
He affirmed this to Catholic digital missionaries on July 29:
This is the mission of the Church: to proclaim peace to the world! The peace that comes from the Lord, who conquered death, brings us God’s forgiveness, gives us the life of the Father, and shows us the way of Love!
Channels and witnesses
The Holy Father has reflected that to be channels of this peace, we must ourselves be at peace, deep down.
"Only a peaceful heart can spread peace in the family, society, and international relations," said Leo XIV at the end of Pentecost Mass, celebrated on June 8, 2025.
To be peacemakers was the first exhortation he made to journalists, just four days after his election, saying that the beatitude "Blessed are the peacemakers" is "particularly relevant" to those in this field.
He urged them to strive for a kind of communication that "never separates the search for truth from the love with which we must humbly seek it."
He told them:
Peace begins with each one of us: in the way we look at others, listen to others and speak about others. In this sense, the way we communicate is of fundamental importance: We must say “no” to the war of words and images, we must reject the paradigm of war.
A young voice
The Holy Father has urged peace to everyone, from religious to world leaders. And he has found special advocates among the young.
July 29, at his surprise appearance at the opening of the Jubilee of Youth, he said:
And our cry must also be for peace in the world. Let us all say: "We want peace in the world."
And the square responded to the Pope: "We want peace in the world."
To the whole world
To the diplomatic corps accredited to the Holy See -- a group that represents through their roles nearly every nation on earth -- the Pope gave an extensive consideration of peace just after his election. He described it as one of the three pillars of the Church’s missionary activity and the aim of the Holy See’s diplomacy.
All too often we consider it a “negative” word, indicative only of the absence of war and conflict, since opposition is a perennial part of human nature, frequently leading us to live in a constant “state of conflict” at home, at work and in society. Peace then appears simply as a respite, a pause between one dispute and another, given that, no matter how hard we try, tensions will always be present, a little like embers burning beneath the ashes, ready to ignite at any moment.
From a Christian perspective – but also in other religious traditions – peace is first and foremost a gift. It is the first gift of Christ: “My peace I give to you” (Jn 14:27). Yet it is an active and demanding gift. It engages and challenges each of us, regardless of our cultural background or religious affiliation, demanding first of all that we work on ourselves. Peace is built in the heart and from the heart, by eliminating pride and vindictiveness and carefully choosing our words. For words too, not only weapons, can wound and even kill.
In this regard, I believe that religions and interreligious dialogue can make a fundamental contribution to fostering a climate of peace. This naturally requires full respect for religious freedom in every country, since religious experience is an essential dimension of the human person. Without it, it is difficult, if not impossible, to bring about the purification of the heart necessary for building peaceful relationships.
This effort, in which all of us are called to take part, can begin to eliminate the root causes of all conflicts and every destructive urge for conquest. It demands a genuine willingness to engage in dialogue, inspired by the desire to communicate rather than clash. As a result, there is a need to give new life to multilateral diplomacy and to those international institutions conceived and designed primarily to remedy eventual disputes within the international community. Naturally, there must also be a resolve to halt the production of instruments of destruction and death, since, as Pope Francis noted in his last Urbi et Orbi Message: No peace is “possible without true disarmament [and] the requirement that every people provide for its own defence must not turn into a race to rearmament.” [1]
