Pope Leo XIV Urges Dialogue Instead of War Ambitions
Pope Leo XIV during a mass in the parish of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in Ponte Mammolo, just outside Rome. Photo: Vatican Media
March 15, 2026 Hour: 1:22 pm
Pope Leo XIV on Sunday urged people to abandon the “absurd pretension” of war and commit to a “relentless dialogue” for peace, during a mass at the Sacred Heart of Jesus parish in Ponte Mammolo, on the outskirts of Rome.
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“Many of our brothers and sisters suffer because of violent conflicts, caused by the absurd pretense of resolving problems and differences with war, when what is needed is to dialogue relentlessly for peace,” the pontiff said during his homily.
Leo XIV denounced that there are even those who “try to involve the name of God in these choices of death” and argued that God “cannot be recruited by the darkness,” but comes to bring light and hope.
The Pope had already urged this morning after the prayer of the Sunday Angelus to cease the war in the Middle East and Lebanon and to reopen the path of dialogue, and denounced the “atrocious violence” suffered by the peoples of the region for two weeks.
In his speech at the Roman parish, the pontiff highlighted the 90 years of work of the parish on the periphery of the capital and its attention to poverty and the Rebibbia penitentiary.
Specifically, he valued the help to migrants to integrate and “learn the language, find decent housing and exercise honest and safe work.”
He also denounced that the difficulties of the most vulnerable are “accentuated by those who, without scruples, take advantage of the condition of indigence of the weakest for their own interest.”
The Sacred Heart of Jesus parish is the fifth and final stage of the Pope’s visits to the communities of the Diocese of Rome during the Lenten period.
Before celebrating Mass, the Pope held a meeting with children, families, the elderly, the sick and homeless people.
Source: EFE
