‘War is back in fashion,’ Pope laments

January 22, 2026

At the conclusion of his January 21 general audience, Pope Leo XIV lamented that “war is back in fashion.”

“Dear brothers and sisters, let us pray for peace at a time in history that seems marked by a growing loss of the value of human dignity and when war is back in fashion,” Pope Leo said to the Portuguese-speaking pilgrims in Paul VI Audience Hall. “May the humanity of Jesus, who reveals the Father, help us to find paths of justice and reconciliation.”

Addressing all pilgrims, the Pontiff also recalled that the Church is in the midst of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.

“Let us ask the Lord to bestow the gift of his Spirit on all the Churches throughout the world,” the Pope prayed, so that “Christians may overcome division and forge strong bonds of unity.”

The Vatican did not include these words of the Pontiff in its English translation of the general audience.

 

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Further information:

• Udienza Generale (Dicastery for Communication - Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 1/21/26)