In a letter to the Italian daily Corriere della Sera’s editor-in-chief, Luciano Fontano, Pope Francis urged humankind to unite and take a collective stand to “disarm the Earth.” The 88-year-old religious figure who is recovering from pneumonia, remarked how “war appears even more absurd” due to his ordeal with the ailment.
The letter to Fontano began with the Pope expressing his gratitude to the Corriere’s editor-in-chief for his “words of closeness.” Pope Francis emphasized how the fragility of human life makes one “more lucid about what endures and what passes, what brings life and what kills.” The pontiff urged all “those who dedicate their work and intelligence to informing” to rally together to spread the word that “there is a great need” for “calmness” in the world.
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The Pope then opined how “war only devastates communities and the environment,” suggesting that “religions draw from the spirituality of peoples to rekindle the desire for fraternity and justice” and “the hope for peace.”
Dated March 14, 2025, the letter reads, “Dear Director, I wish to thank you for the words of closeness with which you have expressed your presence in this moment of illness, in which, as I have already said, war appears even more absurd. Human fragility has the power to make us more lucid about what endures and what passes, what brings life and what kills. Perhaps for this reason, we so often tend to deny limits and avoid fragile and wounded people: they have the power to question the direction we have chosen, both as individuals and as a community.”
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Pope Francis continued, “I would like to encourage you and all those who dedicate their work and intelligence to informing, through communication tools that now connect our world in real time, to feel the full importance of words. They are never just words: they are facts that shape human environments. They can connect or divide, serve the truth, or use it for other ends. We must disarm words, to disarm minds, and disarm the Earth. There is a great need for reflection, calmness, and an awareness of complexity.”
“While war only devastates communities and the environment, without offering solutions to conflicts, diplomacy, and international organizations are in need of new vitality and credibility. Religions, moreover, can draw from the spirituality of peoples to rekindle the desire for fraternity and justice, the hope for peace,” the Pope added.
Pope Francis concluded the note to Luciano Fontano, saying, “All this requires commitment, work, silence, and words. Let us feel united in this effort, which heavenly Grace will continue to inspire and accompany.”
