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Pope Leo XIV said Monday that weapons may impose silence for a limited time but cannot create genuine and lasting peace, calling peace both a political objective and a moral imperative for governments and societies.
Addressing members of Spain’s Parliament at the Congress of Deputies in Madrid, Leo urged countries to choose patient dialogue, justice and respect for international law over rearmament.
“Peace emerges as a political aspiration and, even more so, as a true moral imperative,” he said.
“Weapons may impose a temporary silence, but they can never build a genuine and lasting peace.”
The speech marked a historic first, as Leo became the first pope to address members of Spain’s Parliament in that setting.
Leo said every war ultimately represents a painful failure of the ability to negotiate.
He also described war as a failure of the shared human consciousness that recognizes duties of justice among nations.
The pope said it was troubling that rearmament was again being presented in various parts of the world, including Europe, as an almost unavoidable response to international instability.
He rejected the idea that lasting security could be built through weapons or military expansion.
According to Leo, genuine security comes from justice, patient dialogue, respect for international law and political choices that place the lives of people ahead of interests that profit from war.
He said war and rearmament should be seen as failures for societies rather than as lasting solutions to political or security crises.
During the address, Leo also spoke about the responsibilities of democratic societies.
He said every truly democratic society must protect and promote freedom of thought, conscience and religion.
The pope also said that supporting families strengthens a nation and contributes to the well-being of society.
He called for life to be protected from conception until natural death.
Leo linked these issues to a broader vision of public life centered on human dignity, justice and peace.
His remarks placed dialogue and international law at the center of efforts to resolve disputes, while warning that weapons can stop violence only temporarily and cannot create the conditions needed for lasting peace.
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