Editorial

Words of peace, not war

Peace begins with each one of us: in the way we look at others, listen to others and speak about others. In this sense, the way we communicate is of fundamental importance: we must say “no” to the war of words and images, we must reject the paradigm of war. (Pope Leo XIV)

“Peace” was our new pope’s first word to us, and it is clear that “peace” is a word Pope Leo XIV will continue to speak, and a concept that he will continue to press urgently on everyone from world leaders to the ordinary people whose lives literally depend on it.

“Peace begins with each one of us,” the Holy Father said. And, quoting St. Augustine, the patron saint of his religious order, he exhorted us, “Let us live well and the times will be good. We are the times” (Discourse 80.8).

These are foreign concepts to most of us. We are used to being passive, even disengaged participants, when it comes to deciding questions of war and peace. Other people—local, national and world leaders—are expected to decide whether there will be peace at home or abroad. Most of us feel powerless when confronted with these profound issues.

But Pope Leo sees things differently. “Peace begins with each of us,” he says, “and if we live well, the times will be well.” We are not merely passive observers. What we do, or don’t do, makes a difference. We can choose to be peacemakers as our Lord Jesus Christ has directed us, or we can remain silent and let others decide for us.

Journalists have a special role to play. As Pope Leo said in an address to journalists on May 12:

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus proclaimed: “Blessed are the peacemakers” [Mt 5:9]. This is a Beatitude that challenges all of us, but it is particularly relevant to you, [journalists], calling each one of you to strive for a different kind of communication, one that does not seek consensus at all costs, does not use aggressive words, does not follow the culture of competition and never separates the search for truth from the love with which we must humbly seek it.  

Living as we do in a world saturated by words and images, it’s important to grasp what our new pope is saying to journalists, but in truth to all of us. What is this “different kind of communication” that Pope Leo is calling for? The pope spells out several things to be avoided: 1) consensus at all costs; 2) aggressive words; 3) the “culture of competition;” and 4) the separation of truth from love.

Consensus at all costs rules out the legitimate diversity that exists among people with different experiences and points of view. Genuine peace can never happen if we insist on absolute uniformity. Too much richness and independent thinking are sacrificed by requiring consensus “at all costs.”

And, of course, aggressive words only alienate and divide us from each other. Name calling is antithetical to peacemaking, just as an unhealthy emphasis on competition suggests that we are irreconcilable enemies rather than sisters and brothers who work together for the common good of all.

Finally, as Pope Benedict XVI taught so eloquently, truth and love can never be separated without distorting both. Jesus Christ is both the Word made flesh and Love Incarnate. Unless these two divine attributes are kept together, the result is violence, chaos and unending war.

“Peace begins with each one of us,” our Holy Father says, “in the way we look at others, listen to others and speak about others.” We are responsible for making peace, not war, in our own hearts, in our families and neighborhoods, in our nation and in our world.

“We are living in times that are both difficult to navigate and to recount,” Pope Leo said to the journalists and to each of us. “They present a challenge for all of us but it is one that we should not run away from. On the contrary, they demand that each one of us, in our different roles and services, never give in to mediocrity.”

No more war means no more mediocrity. It requires that each person does his or her best to live well, speak the truth with love, and respect the dignity (and the diversity) of all our sisters and brothers in Christ.

Blessed are the peacemakers, everyone of us, who speak and live words of peace, not war.

—Daniel Conway