Overview
- At Mass for the Solemnity of Mary and the 59th World Day of Peace in St. Peter’s Basilica, the celebration focused on the theme “La pace sia con tutti voi. Verso una pace disarmata e disarmante.”
- Pope Leone XIV declared that “the world is not saved by sharpening swords,” urging understanding, forgiveness, liberation and welcome over judgment and oppression.
- President Sergio Mattarella, in a message to the pope, affirmed that Italy repudiates war and called for international relations governed by law rather than the rule of the strongest.
- He invoked Paul VI’s 1965 “Mai più la guerra” appeal and cautioned that progress toward a universal horizon of peace remains insufficient as conflicts diversify in actors and methods.
- No policy changes were announced, with the interventions serving as a coordinated moral prompt to pursue nonviolence, justice and restraint through diplomacy.