“There is no holy war”: Pope Leo XIV warns against the return of war
Still recovering, Pope Leo XIV sends an urgent message to the world on the anniversary of the Assisi peace prayer.
War instead of peace, power instead of dialogue: Pope Leo XIV observes with concern that military force is increasingly regarded as a means of international politics once again. On the 40th anniversary of the Assisi peace prayer, he sends, while still recovering, an urgent message to the world.
Globalization did not bring lasting peace
Pope Leo XIV has warned against the growing acceptance of war. In a video message to the International Peace Meeting in Assisi, he said on Tuesday: “War must never be waged in the name of God! There is no holy war: only peace is holy!”
Whoever accepts war once again as a means of politics betrays the memory of the 20th century and the “senseless slaughter of millions of human lives.” Peace must once again “become the shared ideal of peoples.” Instead of preparing for new wars, the world must restore peace.
After the end of the Cold War in 1989, many had hoped for an era of peace and prosperity, the pope said. But globalization did not automatically lead to greater unity. It also encouraged fundamentalist, identitarian, and nationalist currents. Against this, Leo XIV sets the “spirit of Assisi”: mediation, dialogue, and joint action for a peaceful future. He called for allowing this spirit “to keep growing.”
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Dialogue instead of arrogance
The pope attributes a central role to prayer. It is an expression of the “humble strength of believers” and is never in vain, because it leads people into dialogue with God, with one another, and with all of creation.
In the tradition of St. Francis, Leo XIV called above all on religious leaders to take responsibility. They should promote understanding within their faith communities and in society. The goal must be to replace “the language of arrogance with the language of peace, negotiation and understanding.” In this way, humanity could step by step find its way out of the spiral of violence.
40 years after the first peace prayer
The occasion for the message was the 40th anniversary of the first great peace prayer, to which Pope John Paul II had invited participants in 1986 to the city of St. Francis. Leo XIV is still recovering from lung surgery and was therefore unable to attend in person. He would have liked to meet with participants at the tomb of St. Francis, to give a sign “that a life as brothers and sisters is already possible.”
The pope thanked the Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue and the Sant’Egidio Community for continuing, with dedication, the path taken by his predecessors. Years of peace work had already “borne much fruit.”
About Andreas Nachbar
Aufgewachsen in einer katholischen Familie, prägt mich der katholische Glauben seit meiner Kindheit. Daraus entwickelte sich im Laufe der Zeit ein vertieftes Interesse an der Tradition des Christentums, der Lehre der katholischen Kirche und der Bedeutung des Glaubens für das persönliche Leben und die Gesellschaft. Durch theologische Weiterbildung vertiefe ich meine Kenntnisse und setze mich mit den Fragen auseinander, die Kirche und Christentum in der Gegenwart bewegen. Themenschwerpunkte sind Familie, Kirche und Glaube, Bildung und Gesellschaft.
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