Speaking from the loggia of St. Peter’s Basilica on Easter, Pope Leo XIV delivered a passionate appeal for peace, declaring that the power of the risen Christ is “entirely nonviolent” and calling on world leaders to lay down their weapons and choose dialogue over domination.
The address came moments after the pope offered Easter Mass in St. Peter’s Square with more than 50,000 people present and preceded his solemn blessing, “urbi et orbi,” meaning “to the city and to the world,” in which the pope offers an indulgence to Catholics around the world who receive the blessing with the proper dispositions.
“In the light of Easter, let us allow ourselves to be amazed by Christ! Let us allow our hearts to be transformed by his immense love for us! Let those who have weapons lay them down! Let those who have the power to unleash wars choose peace! Not a peace imposed by force, but through dialogue! Not with the desire to dominate others, but to encounter them!” Pope Leo said on April 5.
The pope repeated the word peace 13 times in his address, underlining that the peace the risen Christ offers “is not merely the silence of weapons, but the peace that touches and transforms the heart of each one of us.”
“Let us allow ourselves to be transformed by the peace of Christ! Let us make heard the cry for peace that springs from our hearts!”
In a surprise announcement, Pope Leo revealed he will host a prayer vigil for peace in St. Peter’s Basilica on Saturday, April 11.
At the heart of his message was a meditation on the nature of Christ’s power in the resurrection, which he contrasted with the violence that marks the modern world.
“The power with which Christ rose is entirely nonviolent,” Pope Leo said.
That strength, the pope added, “is God himself, for he is Love who creates and generates, Love who is faithful to the end and Love who forgives and redeems.”
“On this day of celebration, let us abandon every desire for conflict, domination, and power, and implore the Lord to grant his peace to a world ravaged by wars and marked by a hatred and indifference that make us feel powerless in the face of evil. To the Lord we entrust all hearts that suffer and await the true peace that only he can give,” he said.
The pope warned against the “globalization of indifference,” a phrase he credited to his predecessor, Pope Francis, who gave his final “urbi et orbi” blessing from the same loggia on Easter Sunday one year ago the day before he died. Pope Leo invoked the words from Pope Francis’ Easter blessing last year, in which the late pope lamented “what a great thirst for death, for killing, we witness each day in the many conflicts raging in different parts of the world.”
“We are growing accustomed to violence, resigning ourselves to it, and becoming indifferent,” Pope Leo said. “Indifferent to the deaths of thousands of people. Indifferent to the repercussions of hatred and division that conflicts sow.”
“We cannot continue to be indifferent! And we cannot resign ourselves to evil!” he added.
Quoting a sermon by St. Augustine, Pope Leo said, “If you fear death, love the resurrection!”
Easter, the pope said, “is the victory of life over death, of light over darkness, of love over hatred.”
“It is a victory that came at a very high price,” he added. “Christ, the Son of the living God (cf. Matthew 16:16), had to die – and die on a cross – after suffering an unjust condemnation, being mocked and tortured, and shedding all his blood. As the true immolated Lamb, he took upon himself the sin of the world (cf. John 1:29; 1 Peter 1:18–19) and thus freed us all – and with us, all creation – from the dominion of evil.”
“Evil is not the last word, because it has been defeated by the Risen One,” he said.
After giving the “urbi et orbi” blessing in Latin, Pope Leo offered Easter greetings in 10 different languages, including Chinese and Arabic, with loud cheers as he spoke in English and Spanish.
“May you bring the joy of Jesus, who is risen and present in our midst, to all you meet,” he said in English. The pope then joined the joyful crowd in St. Peter’s Square in the popemobile.
