On this page you will find
- Extracts of messages from Pope Francis on war and peace
- Peace Encyclicals
- World Peace Day Messages
- Holy See Statements on Nuclear Weapons and the Arms Trade
Extracts from peace messages of Pope Francis since 2013
- Pope Francis: Letter to the Bishop of Hiroshima on the Occasion of the G7 Summit, 19 May 2023
- Pope Francis: Message to Ambassador Alexander Kmentt, President of the First Meeting of States Parties to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, 21 June 2022
- Address of the Holy Father at the Peace Memorial (Hiroshima) 24 November, 2019
- Pope Francis: Message to the UN Conference to Negotiate a Legally Binding Instrument to Prohibit Nuclear Weapons, 27-31 March 2017
- Pope Francis and the Arms Trade video from 2017
- Pope Francis Speech to US Congress in September 2015 ( includes video link)
- Remember victims of war and work for peace: Pope Francis, Kosovo, 6 June 2015
- Easter message 2015 Urbi et Orbi “ We plead for peace for this world dominated by arms-dealers, who profit from the blood of men and women.’
- Homily given in Lampedusa on theme of migrants. July 2013 “let us ask the Lord for the grace to weep over our indifference, to weep over the cruelty of our world, of our own hearts, and of all those who in anonymity make social and economic decisions which open the door to tragic situations like this. “Has any one wept?” Today has anyone wept in our world?
- Angelus message, 7 September 2013 ” Among other things this war against evil entails saying “no” to the fratricidal hatred and falsehood that are used; saying “no” to violence in all its forms; saying “no” to the proliferation of weapons and to the illegal arms trade.
- Angelus message, 1 September 2013 “There is a judgement of God and of history upon our actions which are inescapable! Never has the use of violence brought peace in its wake. War begets war, violence begets violence…”
Peace Encyclicals
- Laudato Si, Care for our Common Home,(Pope Francis, June 2015 )
- Pacem in Terris, 1963 (Pope John VIII)
- On peace and Christian Reconciliation 1920 (Pope Benedict XV)
Peace Day Messages
- Full text of 2019 World Peace Day Message (Pope Francis)
- Full text of 2018 World Peace Day message (Pope Francis)
- Full text 2017 of World Peace Day Message (Pope Francis)
- Full text of 2015 World Peace Day Message ( Pope Francis)
- Full text of 2014 World Peace Day Message (Pope Francis)
- Full text of messages from 2013 – 2006 (Pope Benedict XVI)
- Full text of messages from 2005 – 1979 (Pope John Paul II)
- Full text messages from 1978-1968 (Pope Paul VI)
Speeches and texts on nuclear weapons/deterrence
- H.E Paul Richard Gallagher Archbishop, Holy See representative to the United Nations, International Day for Elimination of Nuclear Weapons, September 2018.
“The world is not safer with nuclear weapons; it is more dangerous,” Archbishop Gallagher said. “A policy that relies on the possession of nuclear weapons,” he said, “is contradictory to the spirit and purpose of the United Nations because nuclear weapons cannot create for us a stable and secure world, and because peace and international stability cannot be founded on mutually assured destruction or on the threat of total annihilation.”
- H.E Paul Richard Gallagher Archbishop, Holy See representative to the United Nations, on signing of Nuclear Weapon Ban Treaty , September 2017
The Holy See has signed the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons and has already deposited its ratification, because it believes that it is an important contribution in the overall effort toward complete nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament, an advance toward the fulfilment of the commitment of the States Parties to the NPT “to pursue negotiations in good faith on effective measures relating to cessation of the nuclear arms race at an early date and to nuclear disarmament,” and a step toward negotiating a “general and complete disarmament under strict and effective international control.”[24]
Environmental, humanitarian consequences
- H.E. Archbishop Bernardito Auza Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the United Nations, Statement to NPT meeting, April 2015
The very possession of nuclear weapons will continue to come at an enormous financial cost… Pope Francis put it strongly in his message to the President of the Vienna Conference on the humanitarian consequences of nuclear weapons: “Spending on nuclear weapons squanders the wealth of nations. To prioritize such spending is a mistake and a misallocation of resources which would be far better invested in the areas of integral human development, education, health and the fight against extreme poverty. When these resources are squandered, the poor and the weak living on the margins of society pay the price.”
- Pope Francis message to the Vienna Conference on Humanitarian Impact of Nuclear Weapons, December 2014
” Nuclear deterrence and the threat of mutually assured destruction cannot be the basis for an ethics of fraternity and peaceful coexistence among peoples and states. The youth of today and tomorrow deserve far more…Spending on nuclear weapons squanders the wealth of nations.
