{"id":228432,"date":"2026-03-05T02:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-03-05T01:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fundacioncarf.org\/?p=228432"},"modified":"2026-02-23T17:14:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-23T16:14:09","slug":"la-paz-desarmante-y-la-fidelidad-papa-leon-xiv","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fundacioncarf.org\/en\/la-paz-desarmante-y-la-fidelidad-papa-leon-xiv\/","title":{"rendered":"Disarming peace and fidelity"},"content":{"rendered":"

Among the teachings of Pope Leo XIV in recent weeks, in the wake of the Jubilee of Hope<\/a>, we focus on your\u00a0Message for the 59th World Day of Peace<\/em><\/strong>, which marks the beginning of the year 2026, and its\u00a0apostolic letter \u201cLoyalty that generates future<\/a><\/strong>\u201don the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the Council's decrees\u00a0Optatam totius\u00a0<\/em>y\u00a0Presbyterorum ordinis<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The revolution of a disarming peace<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Leo XIV's message for the World Day of Peace (January 1, 2026) is entitled: \u00abPeace be with you all: towards a \u2018disarmed and disarming\u2019 peace. It is a direct and extended echo of the first words he pronounced when he stepped out onto the balcony of St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican (May 8, 2025).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The peace brought by the Risen Christ,\u00ab he observes in the Introduction, \u00bbis not a mere wish, but brings about a definitive change in the one who receives it and thus in the whole of reality\u201c (cf. Eph 2:14). The Christian mission, which involves peace with its luminous aspect with respect to the darkness and obscurity of conflicts, continues. With the proclamation of the successors of the Apostles and the impetus of so many disciples of Christ, it is \u201dthe most silent revolution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The peace brought by the Risen Christ,\u00ab he observes in the Introduction, \u00bbis not a mere wish, but brings about a definitive change in the one who receives it and thus in the whole of reality\u00ab (cf. Eph 2:14). The Christian mission, which involves peace with its luminous aspect with respect to the darkness and obscurity of conflicts, continues. With the proclamation of the successors of the apostles and the impulse of so many disciples of Christ, it is \u00bbthe most silent revolution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"paz<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Christ brings \u201can unarmed peace\u201d <\/em>because, in the face of conflict and violence, He brings a different path. \u201cSheathe your sword.\u201d<\/em>, he says to Peter (Jn 18:11; cf. Mt 26:52). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00abThe peace of the Risen Jesus is unarmed,\u00bb the Pope affirms, \"because his struggle was unarmed in specific historical, political and social circumstances. Christians, together, must prophetically become witnesses of this newness, remembering the tragedies in which they have so often become accomplices\".\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An unarmed \u201cstruggle<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Jesus proposes, instead, the way - the protocol, as Pope Francis called it - of mercy (cf. Mt 25:31-46).\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Paradoxically, today, \u00abin the relationship between citizens and rulers, the fact that we are not sufficiently prepared for war, to react to attacks, to respond to aggressions, is considered a fault\u00bb.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But this is just the tip of the iceberg of a deeper and more widespread global problem: the widespread\u00a0l<\/em>The justifying logic of fear and domination. \u00abIndeed, the deterrent force of power, and in particular of nuclear deterrence, embodies the irrationality of a relationship between peoples based not on law, justice and trust, but on fear and the dominance of force.\u00bb.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let ethics prevail over economic interests<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

It is not a question, says Leo XIV, of denying the dangers that loom over us because of the domination of others. It is a question, first, of the cost of rearmament, with the economic and financial interests it entails. Secondly, and more fundamentally, there is a major cultural problem affecting educational policies. The path of listening, encounter and dialogue, as advised by the Second Vatican Council (cf. Joy and Hope<\/em>, 80).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hence the need, on the one hand, to \u00abdenounce the enormous concentrations of private economic and financial interests that are pushing states in this direction\u00bb. And, at the same time, to encourage \u00abthe awakening of consciences and critical thinking\u00bb (cfr.\u00a0Fratelli tutti<\/em>, 4). \u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Pope asks us to join forces \u00abto contribute reciprocally to a disarming peace, a peace born of openness and evangelical humility\u00bb. And all this, attention, not only as an ethical response, but also with attention to the Christian faith, which promotes unity.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Promoting mutual trust<\/strong><\/h5>\n\n\n\n

To begin with, in the Christian perspective, goodness is disarming. Perhaps that is why God became a child. God wanted to take on our fragility; whereas we, as Pope Francis pointed out,\u00a0\"<\/em>we often tend to deny boundaries and avoid the fragile and wounded people who have the power to question the direction we have taken as individuals and as a community.\"\u00a0<\/em>(Francisco,\u00a0Letter to the editor of \u201cCorriere della Sera\u201d,<\/em>\u00a014-III-2025).\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In his magna carta of Christian thought on peace (the encyclical\u00a0Pacem in terris,<\/em>\u00a01963), St. John XXIII introduced the proposal of an \u00abintegral disarmament\u00bb, based on \u00aba renewal of the heart and of the intellect\"<\/em>. To this end, Leo XIV now confirms, the logic of fear and war must be replaced by mutual trust between peoples and nations; without giving in to the tendency to\u00a0\"<\/em>to transform even thoughts and words into weapons\u00bb.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Religions, says Pope Leo XIV, must help to take this step and not the other way around: substituting faith for political combat to the point of - he clairvoyantly denounces - \u00abblessing nationalism and religiously justifying violence and armed struggle\u00bb.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For this reason, and he addresses himself above all to believers, he proposes: \u00abtogether with action, it is more and more necessary to cultivate prayer, spirituality, ecumenical and interreligious dialogue as ways of peace and languages of encounter between traditions and cultures.\"<\/em>.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And this has an educational translation: that every Christian community becomes a house of peace and a school of peace,\u00a0\"<\/em>where we learn to defuse hostility through dialogue, where justice is practiced and forgiveness is preserved; today more than ever, in fact, it is necessary to show that peace is not a utopia, through attentive and generative pastoral creativity\u00bb.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Clearly, adds the successor of Peter, this corresponds in a special way to politicians: \u00abE<\/em>s the disarming path of diplomacy, of mediation, of international law, sadly belied by the increasingly frequent violations of agreements reached with great effort, in a context that would require not the delegitimization, but rather the strengthening of supranational institutions\u00bb.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Disarming the heart, mind and life<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In continuity with his predecessors, Leo XIV denounces the desire to dominate and to advance without limits, by sowing despair and arousing distrust, even disguised behind the defense of certain values.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00abTo this strategy,\u00bb he proposes as the fruit of the Jubilee of Hope, \"we must oppose the development of conscious civil societies, of forms of responsible association, of experiences of non-violent participation, of practices of restorative justice on a small and large scale. All this, based on both anthropological and theological reasons, within the horizon of human fraternity (cfr. Leo XIII,\u00a0Rerum novarum<\/em>, 35).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This, the Pope concludes, requires, above all for believers, \u00abto rediscover themselves as pilgrims and to begin within themselves that disarmament of heart, mind and life to which God will not delay to respond - with the gift of peace - by fulfilling his promises\u00bb (cf. Is 2:4-5).\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fruitful priestly fidelity<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The apostolic letter Loyalty that generates future<\/em>, The new Constitution, signed by Leo XIV on December 8, 2025, was published at the end of December.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The title already contains the proposal addressed to the priests and specified at the beginning: \u00abTo persevere in the mission apostolic<\/a> offers us the possibility of questioning ourselves about the future of the ministry and of helping others to perceive the joy of the priestly vocation\u00bb (n. 1). Fruitful fidelity\u201c is a gift to be understood and received in the context of the Church and her mission. At the same time, the priestly ministry has an important role to play in the longed-for renewal of the Church (cf.\u00a0Optatam totius,<\/em>\u00a0Proem).\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hence the invitation of Leo XIV to reread the conciliar decrees\u00a0Optatam totius<\/em>\u00a0y\u00a0Presbyterorum ordinis,<\/em>\u00a0where it was desired to reaffirm the priestly identity and, at the same time, to open the ministry to new perspectives of doctrinal deepening. A re-reading that should be enlightened by the fact that, after the Council, \u00abthe Church has been led by the Holy Spirit to develop the Council's teaching on her nature communional <\/em>according to the synodal and missionary form\u00bb (n. 4).\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Keeping God's gift alive and caring for the fraternity<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the face of painful phenomena, such as abuse or the abandonment of the ministry by some priests, the Pope stresses the need for a generous response to the gift received (cf. 2 Tim 1:6). The basis must be the \u201cfollowing of Christ\"<\/em>, with the support of integral and ongoing formation. In this formation, from the seminary stage, the \u201caffective\u201d aspect (learning to love like Jesus), human maturity and spiritual soundness stand out. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00abCommunion, synodality and mission cannot be realized if in the hearts of priests the temptation of self-referentiality does not give way to the logic of listening and service\u00bb (n. 13). In this way they will be effective in their \u201cservice\u201d to God and to the people entrusted to them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Within the fundamental fraternity that arises in Christians as a result of Baptism, there is in priests, through the sacrament of Holy Orders, a particular fraternal bond, which is a gift and a task. Thus the Council expresses it: \u00abEach one is united with the other members of this presbyterate by special bonds of apostolic charity, ministry and fraternity\u00bb (Presbyterorum ordinis<\/em>\u00a08).\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Pope says that this means, first of all, on the part of everyone, \u00abovercoming the temptation to individualism\u00bb (n. 15) and a call to fraternity, whose roots are in unity around the bishop. Institutionally, it is necessary to promote economic equality, provision for sickness and old age, mutual care, and also \u00abpossible forms of common life\u00bb that favor the cultivation of the spiritual and intellectual life, avoiding the possible dangers of loneliness (cf.\u00a0Presbyterorum ordinis\u00a0<\/em>8).\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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