Pope Leo: 'No peace is possible while humanity wages war against itself'

By Deborah Castellano Lubov

“There can be no peace while humanity wages war against itself,” Pope Leo XIV insisted on Saturday when addressing participants in the “Political Innovation Hackathon: One Humanity, One Planet” Conference.

In his discourse, Pope Leo expressed his joy to welcome young people committed to promoting the common good through political engagement.

Acknowledging that they come from different nations, cultures, and religious traditions, he commended the fact that their diversity does not cause division among them, but rather represents “an opportunity for collaboration and growth in a synodal style.”

In this context, he thanked them for their many initiatives, particularly the “Four Dreams” project promoted by the Pontifical Commission for Latin America and inspired by Pope Francis.

Recalling that the late Pope, in his Apostolic Exhortation Querida Amazonia, called for dreaming of an ecclesial, ecological, social, and cultural renewal, Pope Leo stressed, “It is urgent that we devote our best efforts to these dreams, particularly in times so marred by injustice, violence, and war!”

Times marred by injustice, violence, and war

The Pope reminded those present that their role as leaders makes them responsible for promoting peacebuilding not only on a large scale, among nations, but also concretely in their daily lives, “where you live, where you study, and where you work.”

“If we are unable to foster harmony within a university or a workplace, or among political parties and civic associations, how can we hope to build peace within an entire society, or between peoples and continents?” Pope Leo asked.

Urging young people to seek peace always, he said peace is first of all a gift, but it also binds us to one another, committing us “to safeguard it where it exists and to pursue it where it is absent,” and opening before us “the hope of a better world, a hope shared by all people of good will. Politics plays an indispensable role in this task.”

Important role of citizens

For this reason, the Pope said he encouraged them “to work together in studying forms of participation that allow all citizens—men and women alike—to take part in the institutional life of their nations.”

Upon this foundation, he said, it becomes possible to build that universal fraternity “which is already taking shape among you young people, a sign of a new era.”

“Your commitment reaches its highest fulfillment when it serves a humanity that seeks and attains peace through justice.”

“With this in mind,” Pope Leo said, “I invite you to reflect on the fact that there can be no peace while humanity wages war against itself—by discarding the weak, excluding the poor, and remaining indifferent to refugees and the oppressed.”

“Only those who care for the least among us are capable of accomplishing what is truly great.”

‘Great destroyer of peace today’

Pope Leo cited the saint of the “poorest of the poor” and Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Saint Mother Teresa of Calcutta, recalling her words at the United States National Prayer Breakfast in 1994 that “the greatest destroyer of peace today is abortion,” adding that “her words remain prophetic.”

“No policy,” he stressed, “can genuinely serve the people if it denies the unborn the gift of life, or if it neglects to support those in need, whether in their material circumstances or in their spiritual distress.”

Yet, the Pope told them to take courage amid the many challenges, reassuring young people that they are not alone in seeking universal fraternity, for “the one God has entrusted the earth to us as a common home for all peoples.”

The theme of the conference, ‘One Humanity, One Planet,’ he said, "finds its fullest expression when completed by the words ‘One God.’”

Pope Leo concluded by inviting the participants to recognize in Him our loving and benevolent Creator, with each religious tradition contributing to the common good, and by imparting his Apostolic Blessing.