World Day of Prayer for Peace 2026

Our Lady of Lourdes Church, Limerick

Homily Notes of Bishop Brendan Leahy

 

From his very first greeting from the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica after being elected Pope, Pope Leo has appealed for peace, repeating Jesus’ first words on Easter morning: “Peace be with you”. It’s the message of peace the Angels also spoke about to the Shepherds at Christmas. In his message for the World Day of Peace 2026, Pope Leo repeats his plea for what he calls an “unarmed and disarming” peace. He writes, “Goodness is disarming. Perhaps this is why God became a child. The mystery of the Incarnation, which reaches its deepest descent even to the realm of the dead, begins in the womb of a young mother and is revealed in the manger in Bethlehem.” The Pope comments: “Nothing has the power to change us as much as a child.” The child’s smallness, helplessness and vulnerability knock at the door of our heart, urging us to open our heart in compassion, tenderness and the love that generates peace.

Peace. We all want peace. But peace in our world today is very fragile. Pope Francis used to say there’s “a third world war being fought piecemeal.” There are 61 wars going on in the world. We think of wars in East Africa, Palestine, Ukraine, Myanmar, Somalia, Syria, Yemen and so many other countries. In his message for peace, Pope Leo notes how global military expenditure increased by 9.4% in 2024 compared to the previous year, confirming the trend of the last ten years and reaching a total of $2718 billion (or 2.5% of global GDP). What a difference even a fraction of that money would mean to many living in dire poverty.

And here in Europe, there is talk of “a foreboding atmosphere in different countries”. It is said that “we live in a risky world, and that we may have to use force to protect who we are”. Reports speak of “the risks of a now dangerous world”. Many conclude we are heading for war in Europe. It is shocking that we are forgetting the hard-won lessons of the twentieth century that saw how war is always a failure for humanity, with its millions of victims. It is shocking to hear how in schools, universities and in the media in many European countries the talk is primarily of promoting armed defence and security.

But even locally, in our own country and around us, we have to admit there are many threats to personal and social peace. We hear of violent crimes, domestic violence, drug criminality, human trafficking, and expressions of racist intolerance of people seeking refuge here having had to leave their homeland because of war and persecution. And there is the legacy of wounds of terrorist activity and all forms of abuse.

As human beings who long for peace and as Christians mandated to cultivate peace in our world, what are we to do, faced with the increased talk of warfare, the increasing tendency in Europe to arm ourselves more, and then the growing temptation, as Pope Leo puts it, to weaponize even thoughts and words in social media outlets and in other ways? 

The first step is always personal. It is clear that people of religious convictions must draw on the deepest resources of their religion to build themselves up as people of peace. One of the fruits of the Jubilee of Hope has been that millions of people around the world have rediscovered themselves as pilgrims and begun within themselves a disarmament of heart, mind and life. Pope Leo quotes Saint Augustine who encouraged Christians in his day to forge an unbreakable bond with peace, so that by cherishing it deeply in their hearts, they would be able to radiate its luminous warmth around them.  Addressing his community, Augustine wrote: “If you wish to draw others to peace, first have it yourselves; be steadfast in peace yourselves.  To inflame others, you must have the flame burning within.”

Today we celebrate Mary, the Mother of God. She is a great model for us. She communicates peace to many because she radiates peace in herself.

But peace is never just an individual achievement. It is together that we are to promote unarmed and disarming peace. We need to cultivate prayer in common and spirituality shared, as well as ecumenical and interreligious dialogue as paths of peace. But there is also a further step. In Ireland we are rightly proud of our tradition of neutrality. But we can’t be naïve and simply adhere to a passive notion of neutrality. We need a vibrant vision of Ireland as a peace-building country. Our collective identity, if it wants to be one characterised by peaceful neutrality, needs commitment and a clear statement owned collectively by us all that the active promotion of peace is a priority for us.

That means implementing actions that make peace a priority in our mindset and day-to-day self-understanding as a society. It means devising plans, policies and micro-strategies for diplomatic pathways not just in international political relations but for a culture of true diplomacy among us and in our international economic and social relations. We can be grateful for the diplomatic pathways already formulated by our government. We can be grateful also for the many wonderful gestures of generosity and kindness on the part of many in our society that are certainly already peace-building. But it would be good if an overall high-level national integral strategic plan of peace-building were formulated, one that offers a framework for our society becoming a pro-active promoter of peace at all levels – personal, social and political, nationally and internationally. It could be entitled: “disarmed and disarming peace”. Neutrality is a high ideal, but the ideal is not enough. We can be rightly proud of the Peace-keeping activities performed by our Defence Forces they alone are not enough. Peace is more than simply the absence of war. We need to be a country where peace, in its fullest sense, is articulated and stated clearly as a political and social priority with a commitment to becoming a country known as a pro-active artisan of peace.

In his message, Pope Leo quotes some Scripture references that encourage us to recognise that we help each other to be peace-builders. “Two are better than one, for they have the advantage of their society. For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow; but woe to the one who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up” (Eccles 4:9-10). And further: “A brother that is helped by his brother is like a strong city” (Prov 18:19).

To promote a high-level integral strategic plan of disarmed and disarming peace requires work. It involves serious reflection, deep conversations among ourselves, consultation together on our priorities and the naming of clear objectives of peace as a priority.

May Our Lady who we honour today on this first day of a new year, inspire us to see ourselves increasingly as a people promoting an unarmed and disarming peace.