Amid rising global tensions and renewed conflicts, Pope Leo XIV is calling the faithful to respond not with despair, but with prayer rooted in the dignity of the human person and the unity willed by Christ.
During a General Audience held this week in the Vatican’s Paul VI Hall, Pope Leo XIV warned that the present moment in history is marked by a troubling erosion of respect for human life and worth. “Let us pray for peace at a moment in history that seems marked by a growing loss of respect for the value of human dignity and in which war has come back into fashion,” the Pope said, according to Vatican News.
Addressing pilgrims from different linguistic groups, the Holy Father consistently returned to the theme of prayer as the Church’s most urgent response. Greeting Portuguese-speaking faithful, he invoked Christ Himself as the model for reconciliation, praying that “the humanity of Jesus, who reveals the Father, help us to find paths of justice and reconciliation,” according to Vatican News.
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The Pope’s appeal was closely tied to the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, observed annually from January 18 to 25. Recalling that Jesus prayed for unity among His disciples on the eve of His Passion, Pope Leo urged Christians to make that same prayer their own today. Speaking to German-speaking pilgrims, he encouraged the faithful to ask “that all His disciples may find unity, so that the world may believe in Him and in His revelation,” according to Vatican News.
Reflecting on this year’s scriptural theme — “There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope of your calling” (Ephesians 4:4) — the Pope emphasized the role of the Holy Spirit in healing divisions among Christians. He encouraged believers to implore the Lord “to bestow the gift of His Spirit upon all the Churches spread throughout the world,” so that divisions may be overcome and bonds of unity strengthened, according to Vatican News.
This message echoed remarks Pope Leo made earlier in the week during his Sunday Angelus, when he called on Catholic communities around the world to intensify their prayers “for the full, visible unity of all Christians,” according to Vatican News.
The week of prayer will conclude with a liturgical sign of that longing for unity. As is customary on the Solemnity of the Conversion of Saint Paul, Pope Leo XIV will preside at Vespers in the Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls, gathering Christians in prayer at the tomb of the Apostle to the Gentiles.
In a world marked by conflict, division, and disregard for human dignity, the Pope’s message is clear: peace and unity are not abstract ideals, but gifts to be earnestly sought through prayer, conversion, and renewed trust in Christ, as reported by Vatican News.
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