OPINION:
On Jan. 1, 2026, in his planned first message for the 59th World Day of Peace, Pope Leo XIV will reflect on peace, justice and global harmony.
On Dec. 18, Pope Leo published his first major peace message, themed “Peace be with you,” in preparation for his and the Catholic Church’s annual exhortation on Jan. 1, focusing on world peace. He urged the faithful not to surrender to the idea that fear and darkness are normal but rather to see peace as not only possible but also necessary.
“When we treat peace as a distant ideal, we cease to be scandalized when it is denied, or even when war is waged in its name … and to justify violence and armed struggle in the name of religion,” he wrote. He called on believers of all religions to guard against the temptation to weaponize words and religion to commit violence in its name. He ended with two searing eyewitness accounts of European horrors: the Bosnian war and the domestic terrorism that tormented Italy in the 1970s and 1980s.
The World Day of Peace is an annual Catholic observance celebrated each Jan. 1. Established in 1968 by Pope Paul VI, it is an opportunity for each pope to write a peace message and reflect on justice and global harmony. The messages offer moral guidance to the church and the world on how to pursue peace in a contemporary context.
For his 59th World Day of Peace message, Pope Leo chose the theme “Peace be with you” as a call not only to desire peace but also to make it a reality. Indeed, peace is not just the absence of war but is rooted in justice, trust, dialogue, forgiveness and shared humanity.
Seeking peace in a world in disarray
In the Council on Foreign Relations’ just-published annual Preventive Priorities Survey, foreign policy experts list five conflict-related scenarios as highly likely to emerge or escalate and to have high impact on U.S. interests in 2026.
The experts were most concerned about conflict-related risks in the Middle East and Eastern Europe, including the potential for increased clashes between Israeli security forces and Palestinians in the West Bank, renewed fighting in the Gaza Strip and intensified attacks in the Russia-Ukraine war. Also, the possibility of direct U.S. military strikes in Venezuela and of an increase in political violence and popular unrest in the United States are similarly worrying scenarios.
Renewed armed conflict between Iran and Israel, artificial-intelligence-enabled cyberattacks on U.S. infrastructure and a cross-strait crisis between China and Taiwan are concerning. North Korea was elevated to a Tier 1 concern for 2026, a top-priority global threat because of its nuclear weapons, ballistic missile programs and potential to destabilize Northeast Asia.
“The world continues to grow more violent and disorderly. Last year’s unprecedented level of anxiety among experts about the rising risk of conflict remains undiminished, said the director of the Council on Foreign Relations survey.
Pope Leo, the first American pope, has an opportunity to put words into action in the pursuit of peace. Since his election in May, “peace be with you all” has been the foundation for his peace mission. In October, at an interreligious meeting in Rome, Pope Leo declared, “Peace is holy, not war,” urging religious leaders to act as “mothers” who encourage people to treat one another as family.
During a recent trip to Lebanon, he met with Muslim and Druze leaders and said that authentic unity and friendship are the only ways to “put aside the arms of war.”
Pope Leo could and should convene a meeting of interreligious leaders to draft a strategy for bringing peace to a troubled world. This would be a monumental task, seemingly beyond the reach of any person, nation, alliance or religion. A leader who has the respect of peers and the public could be the catalyst for such a “peace movement.”
Pope Leo has my vote.
• The author is the former associate director of national intelligence. All statements of fact, opinion or analysis expressed are those of the author and do not reflect the official positions or views of the U.S. government. Nothing in the contents should be construed as asserting or implying U.S. government authentication of information or endorsement of the author’s views.
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