A central topic of Pope Leo XIV's pontificate is peace. Since his election, the pope has, on numerous occasions, repeated the call to create a “disarmed and disarming peace.”
That message is captured in his first book, along with his most important reflections on AI. It includes his official speeches, but also broader contributions to the debate.
ALESSANDRO BANFI
Editor of 'Disarmed and Disarming'
But we also focused on those moments, whether in a parish or during a visit of lesser importance where he joyfully addressed the topic of peace. He speaks about it in a highly engaging and accessible way. From the very beginning, from his first appearance on the central balcony of St. Peter's Basilica, this Pope has made peace the heart of his pontificate.
The title echoes one of the pope's signature phrases, and as Banfi points out, the phrase goes back much further. The expression was also used by the Trappist monk Christian de Chergé, who was killed in Algeria in 1996.
ALESSANDRO BANFI
Editor of 'Disarmed and Disarming'
For two weeks, he wrote in his diary: I am as if dead. He asked himself: can I ask God to kill him? No. Can I ask God to harm him? Yes. But then I sensed that the Lord was asking me to disarm myself first, and with me, my brothers. So, peace begins with each of us. That is the meaning of a peace that is both disarmed and disarming.
The book examines the Pope's vision of peace from multiple perspectives, with particular emphasis on the concrete responsibilities of governments and the international community.
The publication also includes a previously unpublished introduction by Leo XIV.
ALESSANDRO BANFI
Editor of 'Disarmed and Disarming'
In this previously unpublished introduction, the Pope recalls the story of a Soviet officer who, in 1983, received a warning from the system that American missiles were heading toward the Soviet Union. He chose not to press the button, preventing a nuclear war. The Pope reflects : “the conscience of a single person can be worth the whole world.”
At the heart of the book is the pope's defining question: whether humanity truly wants to continue inhabiting the Earth.
In the face of rearmament and new forms of technology driven warfare, the pope insists that peace calls for both personal and collective action to reshape relations between individuals and nations.
