Creative efforts for negotiation and the illusion of rearmament

By Andrea Tornielli – Metz

At the conclusion of Mass in Lourdes on Sunday, Pope Leo XIV invited everyone to pray the Rosary for peace throughout the coming month of October.

In his address in Metz on the roots of a Europe of peace and unity, he once again spoke unequivocally about the frenzy of rearmament that has swept through many countries. European nations are also playing a leading role, with the “ReArm Europe” plan and NATO’s commitment to raise military spending to 5 percent of GDP.

The Successor of Peter echoed the expression which Pope Benedict XV used for World War I, speaking of a “new useless slaughter” now taking place in Europe as well. He stressed the need to show “courage in negotiation and to be willing to give up some positions for the greater good of peace.”

The very word “negotiation,” in the bellicose climate that characterizes our times, ends up being considered inappropriate, while armed confrontation pursued to the bitter end is presented as inevitable.

Certainly, Pope Leo was careful to clarify that the pursuit of peace must not be confused with what he called “a naïve form of pacifism,” while recalling—in Robert Schuman’s words—that world peace cannot be safeguarded without creative efforts proportionate to the dangers that threaten it.

But he immediately added that “we must also guard against the illusion that rearmament is the answer.” It is therefore very difficult to count the enormous growth in military spending among these “creative efforts.”

In his address in Metz, the Bishop of Rome then quoted a passage from his Message for the World Day of Peace, in which he wrote: “It is no coincidence that repeated calls to increase military spending, and the choices that follow, are presented by many government leaders as a justified response to external threats.”

The context in which these words appeared is worth recalling. In that text, Pope Leo observed that “in the relations between citizens and rulers, it could even be considered a fault not to be sufficiently prepared for war, not to react to attacks, and not to return violence for violence. Far beyond the principle of legitimate defense, such confrontational logic now dominates global politics, deepening instability and unpredictability day by day.”

He continued by observing that “the idea of the deterrent power of military might, especially nuclear deterrence, is based on the irrationality of relations between nations, built not on law, justice and trust, but on fear and domination by force.”

Now, in Metz, Pope Leo has added: “Promoting peace is an active task. Today we must ask whether we are truly making ‘creative efforts’ to advance world peace, or whether we are simply seeking to ‘stem the tide of war’ and better prepare ourselves for wars that we assume are still to come.”

It is a question left hanging, yet one that is not difficult to answer when we look at the powerlessness of international and European diplomacy in the face of conflict.

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The Europe to which Schuman aspired is a continent founded on international law, where dialogue is preferred to armed confrontation and resources are pooled to make any war not only unthinkable but materially impossible.

The Pope’s latest appeal, a “voice crying in the wilderness,” stands in continuity with the teaching that has characterized his pontificate from its earliest days, as well as that of his immediate predecessors.

On 26 June 2025, receiving participants in ROACO, Pope Leo XIV said: “how can anyone believe that acts of war bring about peace and not backfire on those who commit them? … How can we continue to betray the desire of the world’s peoples for peace with propaganda about weapons buildup, as if military supremacy will resolve problems instead of fueling even greater hatred and desire for revenge? People are beginning to realize the amount of money that ends up in the pockets of merchants of death; money that could be used to build new hospitals and schools is instead being used to destroy those that already exist!”

And on 11 October of that same year, presiding at the Marian Vigil for Peace in Saint Peter’s Square, he said “to the powerful of this world, to those who guide the fate of peoples: have the courage to disarm!”

Again, during his visit to Rome’s Sapienza University on the morning of 14 May 2026, the Pope said: “Over the past year, the increase in military spending worldwide, and particularly in Europe, has been enormous: let us not call ‘defence’ a rearmament that increases tensions and insecurity, depletes investment in education and health, undermines trust in diplomacy, and enriches elites who care nothing for the common good’.”

What emerges from the Pope’s words is a profoundly realistic outlook, conscious of the disasters caused by the wars of recent years, characterized by increasingly sophisticated and “smart” weapons that have nevertheless ended up massacring vast numbers of innocent civilians.

It is, at the same time, an outlook deeply rooted in the Gospel: the words of Jesus, which may seem to some to be a sign of weakness, are instead the way to halt the spiral of violence and revenge. For, as Pope St. John Paul II taught, there is no peace without justice, but there is no justice without forgiveness.