Amid global unrest, Pope Leo XIV calls for unity and peace in Christ, urging responsibility, dialogue, and holiness as pillars of hope and leadership. Unity and peace are found in Christ— could it summarize Pope Leo XIV’s “governance Programme”?
Newsroom, June 14, 2025, Gaudium Press –The world is currently in a state of anxious unrest, like the Titanic after it struck the iceberg—a sense many people can feel. One doesn’t need to be an expert in international politics or geopolitics to perceive the growing global danger: the crisis in the Middle East, mounting tensions in Ukraine, Gaza, and the increasing threats from China toward Taiwan and its neighbors, in addition to rising friction with the United States. There’s also the internal unrest in the U.S., where California protests have been joined by national anxiety over recent attacks on lawmakers.
It’s as if the world were a soccer field already ablaze with several raging fires, and also full of hidden landmines—unknown in location but ready to explode. Each explosion sets off more fires and deepens the general turmoil.
In this environment, Pope Leo XIV, spoke today from St. Peter’s Basilica. After expressing concern over the recent attacks between Israel and Iran, he made “an appeal to responsibility and reason,” urging people to favor “respectful encounter and sincere dialogue in order to build a lasting peace founded on justice, fraternity, and the common good.”
Yet perhaps Pope Leo’s greatest message is not so much what he says but who he is—and his style of governance in the Church.
From some corners of the Church, after the “grace period” that usually follows a conclave, there are signs of impatience: hopes that Pope Prevost will act on this, fix that, clarify another matter, or settle an issue once and for all. While many of these desires may be legitimate, they are often expressed with a thinly veiled urgency. And yet, in response, stands the calm figure of a man who speaks of holiness, of coherence in life, of the importance of example—and ultimately of the need to be rooted in Christ, who is the true source of unity and peace. In the end, Christ is the King of all.
At today’s Jubilee audience, in which he exalted Saint Irenaeus of Lyon, the Pope highlighted how this early Church Father “was not discouraged by the doctrinal divisions he encountered within the Christian community, nor by internal conflicts or external persecutions.”
“On the contrary, in a fragmented world, he learned to think better by focusing ever more on Jesus. He became a herald of His person—even of His flesh. In Him, what seems opposed is reconciled in unity. Jesus is not a wall that divides but a door that unites. We must remain in Him and distinguish reality from ideology.”
These words nearly summarize what could be called his program of governance—or better yet, the pastoral vision he wishes to realize for the flock of Peter: unity in Christ, with Christ, and offering Christ to the world as the true hope for peace.
As we’ve noted, the greatest message Leo XIV may be sending is that of his own person. His authenticity is evident—when he advocates for peace, people sense he lives it. When he calls for understanding others, it’s clear he practices it. When he speaks of being rooted in Christ, it’s palpable that Jesus is the center of his life.
The greatest sermon of this Pontiff is himself, and this enhances the authority of his voice—even at the international, civil level.
At a time when humanity sees many world leaders as half-enraged or half-insane, blindly chasing their goals without regard for “collateral damage,” we believe the gift God has given the world in the person of Leo XIV is not small—but enormous.
We thank God for this, and we pray—through His Mother—that He may protect the Pope, enlighten him in his mission within the Church and on the global stage, and that his voice may echo more and more—first within the Church, and also in this troubled world.
By Saúl Castiblanco
Compiled by Gustavo Kralj
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