Peace be with you all! These were the opening words of Pope Leo XIV’s first address after his election on 8 May 2025.
In it, he uttered the word peace no fewer than 10 times. In this way, he indicated not only what was urgently needed in our world but also perhaps where much of his prayer and thought might be headed during his papacy.
In his message for the World Day of Peace on New Year’s day, he repeated key phrases from the aforementioned address: “Peace be with you … a peace that is unarmed and disarming, humble and preserving. It comes from God who loves us all unconditionally.”
Given that the climate of conflict is intensifying even as we speak, is it even possible to hope for peace?
Pope Leo wrote: “Peace exists; it wants to dwell within us. It has the gentle power to enlighten and expand our understanding; it resists and overcomes violence. Peace is a breath of the eternal … Peace is more than just a goal; it is a presence and a journey.”
Yes, peace is not only a possibility but also one which has been realised.
After all, Jesus said to the disciples, “I have overcome the world” (John 16:33).
We live in a new world in which peace reigns because mercy has fulfilled truth and justice has already been established, starting from the Sacred Heart of the risen Lord and spreading through those whose inmost hearts are being surrendered.
The peaceful presence of the new world (or the Kingdom of Heaven) is more resilient than even the worst tyranny.
So Pope Leo said, “Even in places where only rubble remains and despair seems inevitable, we still find people who have not forgotten peace … This gift enables us to remember goodness, to recognise it as victorious, to choose it again, and to do so together.”
Of course, just because peace is possible does not mean that it is easily obtainable or promotable. So many people feel helpless before the powerful forces which unleash injustice and violence.
After the Bondi tragedy, the federal government offered to buy back firearms. If only there were a buyback scheme for weapons of mass destruction!
Pope Leo pointed out that global military expenditure has been increasing over the past decade – along with geopolitical atrocities. Doesn’t that give the lie to the boast of “peace through strength”?
There is a culture of death in geopolitics as well as in bioethics.
Here is how Pope Leo describes it: “We lose our sense of realism and surrender to a partial and distorted view of the world, disfigured by darkness and fear. Many today call ‘realistic’ those narratives devoid of hope, blind to the beauty of others and forgetful of God’s grace, which is always at work in human hearts, even though wounded by sin.”
Something’s got to give.
We need heroes who are so profoundly rooted in peace that their lives are true, good and beautiful narratives which dispel cynicism, deceit and selfishness.
We need saints who witness to real peace, not “realpolitik.” Pope Leo quoted Pope Francis about St Francis of Assisi:
“In the world of that time, bristling with watchtowers and defensive walls, cities were a theatre of brutal wars between powerful families, even as poverty was spreading through the countryside.
“Yet there Francis was able to welcome true peace into his heart and free himself of the desire to wield power over others. He became one of the poor and sought to live in harmony with all.” (Fratelli Tutti, 4)
What inspires me with hope is the certainty that the liberating peace in the heart of St Francis can enter ours as well.
In the words of Pope Leo: “Goodness is disarming. Perhaps this is why God became a child … Nothing has the power to change us as much as a child. Perhaps it is precisely the thought of our children and of others who are equally fragile, that cuts to the heart.”
The pathway towards peace demands a change of heart more than a change of policy.
But it does have a political dimension.
Pope Leo wrote, “It is necessary to denounce the enormous concentrations of private economic and financial interests that are driving states in [the direction of war]; yet that alone would not be enough, unless we also awakened conscience and critical thought.”
That resonates with me.
Yes, there is a crisis of peace. But consciences and critical thought are being awakened and those who seek truth and justice are uniting, even across the divide of partisan politics.
Surely this is a movement of the Holy Spirit whose fruit includes peace?
Fr Peter Kwak is the parish priest at Regina Coeli, Beverly Hills
