CYPRUS EU PRESIDENCY AESI PEACE PROGRAMS
FROM THE MESSAGE OF
HIS HOLINESS POPE LEO XIV
FOR THE LIX WORLD DAY OF PEACE 2026
http://www.vatican.va/content/leo-xiv/en/messages/peace/documents/20251208-messaggio-pace.html
“When we treat peace as a distant ideal, we end up not considering it scandalous that it can be denied and that war can even be waged to achieve peace. There seems to be a lack of the right ideas, of carefully weighed phrases, of the ability to say that peace is near. If peace is not a reality to be experienced, cherished, and cultivated, aggression spreads into domestic and public life. In the relationship between citizens and rulers, we come to consider it a fault that we are not sufficiently prepared for war, to react to attacks, to respond to violence.
Far beyond the principle of self-defense, on a political level this logic of opposition is the most topical factor in a global destabilization that is becoming increasingly dramatic and unpredictable every day. It is no coincidence that repeated calls to increase military spending and the choices that follow are presented by many leaders with the justification of the danger posed by others. In fact, the deterrent force of power, and in particular nuclear deterrence, embody the irrationality of a relationship between peoples based not on law, justice, and trust, but on fear and the domination of force.
“In today’s world, justice and human dignity are at an alarming risk amid global power imbalances. How can we live in this time of destabilization and conflict, and free ourselves from evil? We need to encourage and support every spiritual, cultural and political initiative that keeps hope alive, countering the spread of “fatalistic terms, as if the dynamics involved were the product of anonymous impersonal forces or structures independent of the human will.” [13] For, as has been suggested, “the best way to dominate and gain control over people is to spread despair and discouragement, even under the guise of defending certain values.” [14] Against this strategy, we must promote self-awareness in civil societies, forms of responsible association, experiences of nonviolent participation, and practices of restorative justice on both a small and large scale”
