>>Members of the Pax Christi USA nonviolence working group offer this reflection on the pope’s recent words and our ongoing commitment to nonviolence.

As part of the international Catholic movement for peace, Pax Christi rejects war, preparation for war, every form of violence and domination, and personal and systemic racism. Our positions are grounded in Church teaching; we are grateful for the consistent anti-war, pro-peace language offered by popes from John XXIII to Leo XIV, who was elected to the papacy on May 8, 2025.

>>The Catholic Church on nonviolence, a resource prepared by the Catholic Nonviolence Initiative

From its beginning 250 years ago, the United States has been a nation almost always at war. Most recently, the US, along with Israel, has attacked Iran which has increased an already high level of violence in the region. On top of the illegal military actions, the president of the US has used language so dehumanizing and threatening – “a whole civilization [will] die tonight” – that it can be considered a war crime.

In contrast to this belligerence, Pope Leo has said:

God does not bless any conflict … Anyone who is a disciple of Christ, the Prince of Peace, is never on the side of those who once wielded the sword and today drop bombs …. Military actions will not create space for freedom or times of #Peace, which comes only from the patient promotion of coexistence and dialogue among peoples.

Absurd and inhuman violence is spreading ferociously through the sacred places of the Christian East. Profaned by the blasphemy of war and the brutality of business, with no regard for people’s lives, which are considered at most collateral damage of self-interest.

Enough of the idolatry of self and money! Enough of the display of power! Enough of war! True strength is shown in serving life. 

In Fratelli Tutti, his encyclical on social friendship, the late Pope Francis called people of faith to “form a new society” and “write a new page of history that changes the conditions that create suffering for our neighbors,” including our brothers and sisters in Iran, Palestine, and throughout our nation. 

Pax Christi embraces this call to form a new society, grounded in peace through justice, that writes a new page of history for all of our human and non-human kin to thrive free of violence, coercion, and every form of racial, economic, and military domination.