Pope Francis Calls For Global Dialogue To Prevent World War

Pope Francis on Thursday expressed concern about “the increasingly concrete threat of a world war” at a New Year’s reception for foreign ambassadors to the Holy City.

The head of the Catholic Church called on diplomats to engage in dialogue, even with difficult interlocutors.

Dialogue he said is the only way to break the chains of hatred and vengeance that bind and to defuse the explosive power of human selfishness, pride and arrogance, which is the root of every destructive determination to wage war.

He said his wish for 2025 was for the war in Ukraine to end, and repeated his appeal for a ceasefire in the Gaza conflict.

The 88-year-old pontiff also warned of the dangers of the spread of fake news, which not only distorts facts but also perceptions.

“This phenomenon generates false images of reality, a climate of suspicion that foments hate, undermines people’s sense of security and compromises civil coexistence and the stability of entire nations,” he said.

Since 2013, Pope Francis has been the leader not only of some 1.4 billion Catholics worldwide, but also the head of the Vatican City State.

The Pontiff, who arrived in a wheelchair and was accompanied by the Cardinal Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Secretary for Relations with States, Archbishop Gallagher, and several officials from the Secretariat of State, wove his speech following the red thread of the Jubilee of Hope, recalling that the very meaning of the Jubilee is to “step back” from the “frenzied pace of daily life in order to be refreshed and nourished by what is truly essential”, that is, “to rediscover ourselves, in him, as children of God and as brothers and sisters, to pardon offences, to support the weak and the poor in our midst, to give rest and relief to the earth, to practise justice and to recover hope. This is a summons to all those who serve the common good and who exercise that lofty expression of charity – perhaps the highest form of charity – that is politics”.

Due to a cold, the Bishop of Rome handed over the reading of the long speech to Msgr. Filippo Ciampanelli, Undersecretary of the Dicastery for the Oriental Churches.

Among the opening themes of the speech was a brief summary of the Holy See’s diplomatic actions: from the more than thirty Heads of State received in the Vatican by the Pontiff to the many trips made by the Pope, without forgetting the agreements with some countries, including the one of 22 October signed between the Holy See and the People’s Republic of China with which it was decided to extend for a further four years the validity of the Provisional Agreement on the Appointment of Bishops, signed on 22 September 2018 and already renewed on 22 October 2020 and 22 October 2022, “a sign of the desire to continue a respectful and constructive dialogue in view of the good of the Catholic Church in the country and of all the Chinese people”.

The smallest state in the world maintains diplomatic relations with 184 countries.