Father Nicola Bux on what Donald Trump has not understood and what Pope Leo has yet to say regarding the Church’s role in peace.
Popes from John XXIII to Leo XIV have, in different ways, separated the question of peace from the concrete reality of the Church; as a result, their appeals for peace risk becoming utopian — aspirations that lack the means necessary for their fulfilment.
This separation appears when peace is framed primarily as a political or humanitarian goal: ending wars, encouraging dialogue, and fostering cooperation among nations. These aims are good, but when they are presented without reference to the Church’s essential mission — the conversion of persons and peoples to Christ — they lose their foundation. Peace becomes an external arrangement rather than the fruit of an interior transformation.
The Gospel presents a different logic. After His Resurrection, Christ gives peace to His Apostles and immediately commands them to make disciples of all nations (Mt 28:19). The universality of this mission shows that peace is inseparable from the spread of the Gospel and the establishment of the Church. The Church is not merely a promoter of peace; she is its source in history, because she is the body of Christ, who is Himself our peace.
The early Christians understood this unity clearly. For them, peace and communion were inseparable realities. In the Church, divisions of language, ethnicity, and nation were overcome through a shared life in Christ. The inscriptions “pax” and “irene” on Christian tombs expressed the conviction that peace was fulfilled in communion with God and His people. Peace was not an abstract ideal but a lived experience grounded in faith.
When this connection is weakened, the pursuit of peace becomes superficial. Symbolic gestures and diplomatic efforts may express goodwill, but they cannot resolve the deeper disorder within the human person. As Isaiah teaches, “the work of justice will be peace” (Is 32:17), and justice depends on right relationship with God. Without conversion, there is no lasting moral order, and without moral order, peace cannot endure.
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