For a non-violent culture

Pope Francis' prayer intention for April 2023

Let us pray for a more widespread culture of non-violence,
that will progress when countries and citizens alike
resort less and less to the use of arms.

Living, speaking, and acting without violence is not surrendering, losing or giving up anything, but aspiring to everything. As Saint John XXIII said 60 years ago in his Encyclical Pacem in Terris, war is madness. It’s beyond reason.

Any war, any armed confrontation, always ends in defeat for all.

Let us develop a culture of peace.

Let us remember that, even in cases of self-defense, peace is the ultimate goal, and that a lasting peace can exist only without weapons.
Let us make non-violence a guide for our actions, both in daily life and in international relations.
And let us pray for a more widespread culture of non-violence, that will progress when countries and citizens alike resort less and less to the use of arms.