Pope Leo XIV says Peace is “an active and demanding gift” Calling Us to "resist the temptation to use words as weapons" FULL TEXT to Ambassadors

ADDRESS OF POPE LEO XIV
in the Vatican's Clementine Hall
Saturday, 6 December 2025
____________________________________

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Peace be with you!

Your Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

I offer a warm welcome to each of you on the occasion of the presentation of the Letters accrediting you as Ambassadors Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the Holy See on behalf of your respective countries: Uzbekistan, Moldova, Bahrain, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Liberia, Thailand, Lesotho, South Africa, Fiji, Micronesia, Latvia and Finland. I kindly ask you to convey my respectful greetings to your Heads of State, together with the assurance of my prayers for them and your fellow citizens.

I am especially glad to meet you at the beginning of my pontificate and during this Jubilee year of Hope, a celebration that calls everyone “to recover the confident trust that we require, in the Church and in society, in our interpersonal relationships, in international relations, and in our task of promoting the dignity of all persons and respect for God’s gift of creation.” (Franics, Spes non Confundit, 25). From my first words as Bishop of Rome, I wished to recall the greeting of the Risen Lord Jesus —“Peace be with you” (Jn 20:19) — and to invite all peoples to pursue what I have called an “unarmed and disarming peace” (cf. Urbi et Orbi, 8 May 2025). Peace is not merely the absence of conflict, but “an active and demanding gift,” one that is “built in the heart and from the heart”; it calls each of us to renounce pride and vindictiveness and to resist the temptation to use words as weapons (cf. Audience to Members of the Diplomatic Corps accredited to the Holy See, 16 May 2025). This vision of peace has become all the more urgent, as geopolitical tension and fragmentation continue to deepen in ways that burden nations and that strain the bonds of the human family.

Furthermore, we must not forget that the poor and the marginalized suffer most from these upheavals. Indeed, “the measure of the greatness of a society is found in the way it treats those most in need” (cf. Francis, Visit to the Community of Varginha, 25 July 2013). In my Apostolic Exhortation Dilexi Te, I echoed the same conviction: that our world cannot afford to avert its gaze from those who are easily rendered invisible by rapid economic and technological change.

In this regard, I wish to reaffirm that the Holy See will not be a silent bystander to the grave disparities, injustices and fundamental human rights violations in our human and global community, which is increasingly more fractured and conflict-prone. Indeed, the Holy See’s diplomacy, shaped by the values of the Gospel, is consistently directed toward serving the good of humanity, especially by appealing to consciences and by remaining attentive to the voices of those who are poor, in vulnerable situations or pushed to the margins of society.

Your diplomatic mission, and the constructive relations between the Holy See and your nations, can offer real help in addressing these grave concerns. It is my particular hope that our cooperation will also contribute to a renewed spirit of multilateral engagement at a moment when it is sorely needed, revitalizing those international bodies established to resolve disputes among nations. I trust that together we may highlight the situations of those in need, those who are too often forgotten, and that our shared commitment will inspire the international community to lay the foundations for a more just, fraternal and peaceful world.

As you begin your mission to the Holy See, I assure you of the support of the Secretariat of State. May your service help to open new doors of dialogue, foster unity and advance that peace for which the human family so ardently longs. Upon you, your families and the peoples you represent, I willingly invoke abundant divine blessings.

Thank you.