Today, on the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God, the Catholic Church celebrates the World Day of Peace. This celebration began in 1968 at the direction of Pope St. Paul VI who was inspired to establish the holiday by Pope John XXIII’s encyclical, Pacem in Terris, and his own encyclical, Populorum Progressio.
Pope Leo XIV marked the celebration with comments during his Angelus prayer time and with a message, Peace be with you all: Towards an “unarmed and disarming” peace, that was released in advance on December 8, 2025.
As he greeted those gathered in St. Peter’s Square for the Angelus prayer, Pope Leo reiterated the emphasis on peace that has permeated these early days of his papacy. He reminded the faithful that our hope for peace among all people brings meaning to the passage of time and reflects the heart of Christ that first beat within Mary’s womb. He asked us to join him in praying for peace, both in our own homes and in the many nations that are suffering from the effects war. Following the Angelus prayer, he reminded us that the “unarmed and disarming” peace that the world needs comes from God and is “entrusted to our responsibility.” He asked that we “begin today to build a year of peace, disarming our hearts and refraining from all violence.”
In his message to mark this day, Pope Leo expands these themes. He hints at how difficult it can be to hope for peace especially during this time that Pope Francis described as “a third world war fought piecemeal.” To be able to hope for peace, Pope Leo emphasizes the need to fix our eyes on Christ:
In order to overcome the darkness, it is necessary to see the light and believe in it. This is a call that Jesus’ disciples are invited to live in a unique and privileged way…
He then reminds us that it is through us, Christ’s followers, that God’s peace can dwell in the world today.
Pope Leo cautions about the tendency to see peace as an ideal rather than a lived reality. Not only does this tendency make it difficult for us to “remember goodness, to recognize it as victorious, to choose it again, and to do so together,” it also numbs us so that we are no longer “scandalized when it is denied, or even when war is waged in its name.”
The Holy Father reminds us that the path of peace can seem foolish in the eyes of the world. He retells the story of the disciples’ distress at Jesus’s nonviolent response to his arrest and crucifixion. Yet, it was precisely this nonviolent reaction that Jesus called his disciples – and now us – to follow as we conform to His ‘unarmed’ and ‘disarming’ model. This requires tremendous courage and faith in a world that increasingly uses the threat of destruction to create an illusion of peace. In the global sphere, Pope Leo cautions that our reliance on technology and weapons of war for deterrence is dangerous and does not facilitate true peace which would depend on the honest cooperation of all nations as well as the overcoming of financial and political interests that drive many of the world’s hostilities. The Holy Father also emphasizes the importance of sacrificing self-interests and resisting the tendency to weaponize words. This is particularly important in the current climate where:
It becomes increasingly common to drag the language of faith into political battles, to bless nationalism, and to justify violence and armed struggle in the name of religion.
He goes on to say,
Believers must actively refute, above all by the witness of their lives, these forms of blasphemy that profane the holy name of God.
He concludes his message with a passage from Isaiah:
He shall judge between the nations, and shall decide for many peoples; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore. O house of Jacob, come, let us walk in the light of the Lord. (Isaiah 2:4-5)
Image: “The dove of peace.” (CC BY-ND 2.0) by Snapdragon1959
Ariane Sroubek is a writer, school psychologist and mother to two children here on earth. Prior to converting to Catholicism, she completed undergraduate studies in Bible and Theology at Gordon College in Wenham, MA. She then went on to obtain her doctorate in School and Child Clinical Psychology. Ariane’s writing is inspired by her faith, daily life experiences and education. She is currently writing a women's fiction novel and a middle-grade mystery series. Her non-fiction book, Raising Sunshine: A Guide to Parenting Through the Aftermath of Infant Death is available on Amazon. More of her work can be found at https://mysustaininggrace.com.
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