Not wars, but the weaving of peace produces civilization, Pope tells study center

September 19, 2026

Pope Leo XIV told participants in a meeting organized by the Leo XIV International Study Center that “it is not wars, but the weaving of peace and just balances that produces civilization, with the active participation of all the social and cultural components of an open society.”

The study center, established in August 2025 by the Order of Saint Augustine and based in Florence, promotes academic initiatives that bring the Augustinian tradition and the principles of Catholic social doctrine to bear on contemporary concerns. On September 16-17, the center hosted a conference in Rome, “Let everything be yours in common: the frontiers of poverty.”

During the September 18 papal audience, which took place in Consistory Hall of the Apostolic Palace, Pope Leo said that the key to the study center’s initiatives “lies in walking together, always, without closing the door to encounter even with those who are different and seem to think, speak or act differently.”

The Pontiff told the meeting participants that “at the cost of swimming against the tide, your mission of hope consists of promoting, in Italy and throughout the world, formation for public and political life conceived as a service to the common good, responsibility towards the community and the building of relationships based on solidarity, justice and peace. In other words, the opposite of resignation!”

“Augustinian reflection, which underpins your initiative, has much to offer in this regard within today’s international context, for an understanding of love as the principle of renewal in personal, economic and political life,” Pope Leo continued. “Love binds in order to liberate, unites in order to generate, and commits in order to build.”

The Pope concluded:

Be experts in God’s newness: not that which dazzles with speed and efficiency, but that which He works silently, freeing the old world from its dead ends and opening up paths along which we may journey together, towards His city. May the Lord renew your commitment with abundant fruits, and may the Apostolic Blessing, which I wholeheartedly impart to you all, accompany you. Thank you.

 

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Further information:

• Participants in the Meeting promoted by the Leo XIV International Study Center (Dicastery for Communication - Vatican Media, 9/18/26)
• Audience with participants in the meeting promoted by the Pope Leo XIV International Study Center (Holy See Press Office, 9/26/26)
• Pope encourages Leo XIV Study Center to help build a civilization of love (Vatican News, 9/16/26)