From Vatican News:
Pope Leo XIV’s monthly prayer intention for March is “for disarmament and peace.”
The Pope invited the Church to pray for this intention in this month’s The Pope Video, which is entrusted to the entire Catholic Church through the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network.
Pope Leo begins his prayer by recalling that the Lord has shaped every human being in His image and likeness and that He created us “for communion, not for war,” “for fraternity, not for destruction.”
In a timely coincidence, the papal preacher has offered his first reflection for Lent on a similar theme:
On March 6, Fr. Roberto Pasolini, the Preacher of the Papal Household, gave the first of his Lenten Sermons, which will take place every Friday until March 27 in the Paul VI Audience Hall, with Pope Leo XIV present.
The series is centered around the theme: “If anyone is in Christ, they are a new creation (2 Cor 5:17). Conversion to the Gospel according to Saint Francis.”
This first meditation’s topic was “Conversion: Following the Lord Jesus on the Path of Humility.” The Capuchin friar recounted how “in days marked once again by pain and violence, talking about smallness might seem like an abstract, almost spiritual luxury. In reality, it is a concrete responsibility, tied to the fate of the world.”
Peace, he explained, is not only born from political agreements or diplomatic or military strategies, but from men and women who find the courage to be small. This happens when people step back, renounce violence in all its forms, refuse to give in to the temptation of revenge and dominance, and choose dialogue even when circumstances seem to deny its possibility.
Check out the short video of Pope Leo below.
