The media has been reporting troubling news about world peace. That’s why I really enjoyed the article I’m copying below. The author is Onésimo Díaz, and the title is  “Peace, the initial core of a hopeful pontificate.”

On September 14, Pope Leo XIV turned 70. He is the youngest pontiff of the 21st century, having been elected Benedict XVI at 78 and Francis at 76. On the occasion of this anniversary, I invite you, as a historian and author of the book “A History of the Popes in the 20th Century,” to reflect on the first words of his pontificate in the historical context of the present time.

Politically, the world today is experiencing a hopeful process, thanks to the spread of democracy to more and more countries, despite the disturbing presence of some dictatorial regimes and the rise of authoritarian populisms. However, in the 21st century, we find ourselves immersed in a divided geopolitical situation, in which the United States continues to struggle to impose the values ​​that should guide the world.

At the social level, in the most advanced societies of the European Union, Great Britain, the United States, Canada, and Australia, a large and growing number of people declare themselves nonreligious or unaffiliated with an organized religion. While the process of secularization has been increasing in the West, the opposite phenomenon of secularization has increased in Africa, Asia, and the Americas. Consequently, in most countries of the world, religion continues to occupy an important place in the lives of ordinary people.

Faced with the political and social challenges of today’s world, two days after his election, on May 10, Leo XIV referred to the beginnings of the Social Doctrine of the Church in a speech to the College of Cardinals : “Pope Leo XIII, with the historic encyclical Rerum Novarum, addressed the social question in the context of the first great industrial revolution; and today the Church offers everyone a heritage of social doctrine to respond to another industrial revolution and to the advances of artificial intelligence, which pose new challenges for the defense of human dignity, justice and work.”

Since the day of his election, May 8, the most repeated word has been peace. Three days later, in his first Sunday address, the Pope addressed the people gathered in St. Peter’s Square with a few words against war: “In the current dramatic scenario of a piecemeal third world war, as Pope Francis has stated on more than one occasion, I too turn to the great people of the world, repeating the ever-present appeal: Never again war ! I carry in my heart the suffering of the beloved Ukrainian people. Everything is being done to achieve a true, just, and lasting peace as soon as possible. May all prisoners be released and children returned to their families. I am deeply saddened by what is happening in the Gaza Strip.” On Friday, August 22, the Pontiff asked all Catholics around the world for a day of prayer and fasting for peace. Furthermore, Leo XIV offered the Vatican as a venue for peace talks on the war in Ukraine.

With regard to the Social Doctrine of the Church, it is worth highlighting the American pontiff’s references to work in contemporary society. In an audience with the diplomatic corps accredited to the Holy See on May 16, Leo XIV expressed this concern: “In the changing era in which we are living, the Holy See cannot refrain from making its own voice heard in the face of the numerous imbalances and injustices that lead, among other things, to undignified working conditions and to increasingly fragmented and conflict-ridden societies.”

In my opinion, the Pope has been deeply concerned, from the day of his election until today, about the precariousness of peace in the world.  On another level, the social question could be placed in reference to the world of work and the challenges posed by artificial intelligence.  Everything seems to indicate that the first encyclical will address these and other issues that concern Catholics and all people of good will. Time will tell.

Onésimo Díaz Hernández is a research professor at the University of Navarra