“Peace be with you all. Toward a disarmed and disarming peace. Peace be with you.”
How great is the need for peace in these difficult times in which we live, in what Pope Francis has lucidly described as a piecemeal third world war, marked by scattered conflicts, normalized violence, and fears that are cultivated and sustained.
Pope Leo XIV, from the very evening of his election as Bishop of Rome, has never ceased to invoke peace, to call people back to peace, and to restore its deepest truth. He does so not only in the Message for the upcoming World Day of Peace on January 1st, but also in his public addresses, where peace takes concrete shape in the life of communities, cities, and institutions.
As the International Study Centre Leo XIV ETS, promoted within the Augustinian Community of Santo Spirito in Florence, we have chosen to re-launch together two texts that illuminate one another: the Message for the World Day of Peace and the Address delivered to the National Association of Italian Municipalities. Two different contexts, yet a single underlying thread.
On the one hand, a broad and universal reflection on peace as presence, journey, and criterion for discernment: the peace of the Risen Christ, disarmed and disarming, which does not arise from deterrence, force, or fear. On the other hand, a concrete appeal to the responsibility of those who govern cities, called to exercise power as service, to listen to the most vulnerable, to safeguard people’s faces and stories, and to build social cohesion and hope.
In both texts, Pope Leo XIV reminds us that peace is neither an abstract idea nor a private feeling, but a choice that permeates daily life, social relationships, public discourse, and politics. A peace measured by the ability to care for families, young people, the elderly, and the poor; to counter loneliness, violence, and new forms of marginalization; and to promote a form of coexistence rooted in the dignity of every person.
We re-propose these two interventions as an invitation to shared reflection. Not to offer ready-made answers, but to open a space for dialogue: what does it mean today, for each of us and for our communities, to build a disarmed and disarming peace? How can our cities, institutions, and relationships become places of listening, responsibility, and hope?
As a Study Centre, we seek to foster an open and plural dialogue, in the awareness that peace is never an individual matter nor a solitary achievement, but a common journey—one that calls for the disarmament of the heart and the intellect, and for the courage to believe that another way of inhabiting history is possible.
Those who wish to read the two complete texts by Pope Leo XIV referenced in this article may find the official sources at the following links.
Address to the Italian Municipalities – 29/12/2025 | Message for the World Day of Peace – 08/12/2025
The International Study Centre Leo XIV ETS invites readers to share reflections, questions, and contributions that may nurture a cultural and spiritual dialogue on peace by writing to the Secretariat of the Study Centre.
reflections@studiumleonexiv.org
The contributions received may form the basis for further study, meetings, and research initiatives, in the awareness that peace can only be built by walking together, with responsibility, listening, and trust.
