As the Church prepares to mark the World Day of Peace on 1 January, Pope Leo XIV’s first Message for the occasion is centered on the call for an “unarmed and disarming” peace. As Marie Dennis recalls, it also refers to a peace that is “humble and persevering”, and it places Gospel nonviolence at the heart of the Church’s response to a world increasingly marked by conflict, fear, and fragmentation.

Speaking with Vatican News, the director of Pax Christi’s Catholic Institute for Nonviolence describes the Pope’s message as deeply coherent with the direction Pope Leo XIV has charted since the earliest moments of his papacy.

“It is so entirely consistent with what Pope Leo has been saying from the very beginning,” she says. “His immediate reference to peace - peace that is unarmed and disarming, and, he adds, humble and persevering.”

For Dennis, the message offers not only a spiritual reflection, but a strong and concrete framework rooted in what she calls “Gospel nonviolence”—a way of life that the world urgently needs.

An “unarmed and disarming” peace

Asked about the Pope’s use of the words "unarmed" and "disarming" when referring to peace, Dennis explains that it carries both theological depth and practical implications. An “unarmed” peace, she says, does not depend on coercion, military force, or the accumulation of weapons.

“The peace of Christ does not rely on violence or coercion or a building up of arms,” she notes, pointing to Pope Leo’s explicit reference to the enormous global investment in war and preparations for war. “It does not rely on that kind of preparation—or on violence itself.”

But the Pope goes further, she adds, by insisting that peace must also be “disarming.”

“This is not passive,” Dennis explains. “It is an active process whereby a different way of relating is built between two parties.” Drawing on the language of the Catholic Nonviolence Initiative, she describes this as a practice that both interrupts cycles of violence and extends a hand, even to those perceived as enemies.

“It consistently reaches out to the so-called enemy, to the one who may even be the perpetrator of violence, to build a new way of relating,” she says. “Peace is unarmed in itself, and it is also disarming.”

“Peace is unarmed in itself, and it is also disarming.”

A radically different response to a violent world

The timing of the message could not be starker. As global conflicts multiply and geopolitical tensions intensify, the sense of fear and instability has become pervasive. Dennis acknowledges the gravity of the moment, describing today’s world as “breathtakingly violent and frightening.”

Yet she believes Pope Leo XIV is deliberately offering a radically different response.

“Rather than giving in to or orchestrating fear, which is really the way the world is working right now, the Pope calls us to move beyond fear,” she says. Instead, the message urges a return to humility, relationship-building, and recognition of the dignity of the other.

This vision, she notes, stands in sharp contrast to dominant narratives that portray entire groups of people as threats. Pope Leo’s insistence on humility, she explains, recognises the integrity of every person.

“Where we are told that immigrants are a threat, not a gift,” she says, “the Pope speaks of a peace that recognises people as human beings with needs, integrity, and gifts to bring to society.”

The Pope’s call to a “persevering” peace also resonates deeply with Dennis. Such peace, she says, cannot be rushed.

“It takes time - listening, truth-telling, and relentless persistence - in order to build right relationships,” she explains, both at the interpersonal level and on the international stage.

In this context, she highlights the Pope’s emphasis on strengthening, rather than dismantling, transnational institutions capable of fostering dialogue and cooperation between nations.

“What Pope Leo offers,” Dennis says, “is an extraordinary and beautiful, very different platform on which humanity could live out the reality of these days.”

“What Pope Leo offers is an extraordinary and beautiful, very different platform on which humanity could live out the reality of these days.”

 “Houses of peace” and concrete hope

One of the most practical images in the Pope’s message, according to Dennis, is his call for communities to become “houses of peace.”

“He speaks of every community becoming a house of peace,” she explains, “where hostility is diffused through dialogue, where justice is practiced, and where forgiveness is cherished.”

For Dennis, this is not an abstract ideal, but a concrete ecclesial mission—one that spans parish life, universities, religious communities, and even the Church’s diplomatic engagement.

“These houses of peace are places where people learn how to listen with respect, to seek common ground, and to work together on the problems at the heart of violence,” she says.

Acknowledging how difficult such a vision may seem in the face of brutal conflicts - from Sudan to Ukraine - Dennis insists that it is already being lived out, often quietly and without recognition.

“There are many people around the world contributing to what Pope Leo calls the most silent of revolutions,” she says.

She points to the Tent of Nations, a family farm near Bethlehem, whose commitment to hope is expressed in daily, disciplined acts of faithfulness and care for the land. For Dennis, such a witness is the perfect exemplification of what the Pope is calling for: perseverance rooted in hope, even when circumstances are incredibly difficult.

At the same time, she stresses that even in places marked by extreme violence, there are communities striving to protect children, care for women, and maintain human dignity.

“These stories of nonviolence practised day by day are so often not told,” she says. “And it is important to lift them up, so that we know it is possible to build houses of peace everywhere.”

“It is important to lift up stories of nonviolence, so that we know it is possible to build houses of peace everywhere.”

Non-violence: not naïve, but effective

As a long-time advocate of nonviolence, Dennis says one passage of the Pope’s message resonates particularly strongly with her: his reflection on the disciples’ discomfort with Jesus’ nonviolent response to injustice and threat.

“What troubled the disciples was his nonviolent response,” Pope Leo writes, a path that Peter, among others, contested.

“That reaction is very familiar,” Dennis observes. “We tend to think that nonviolence in the face of such overwhelming violence is naïve or impossible.”

Yet, she notes, growing empirical research shows otherwise.

“What we are learning is that nonviolent strategies work,” she says, “and they often work better than armed responses.”

Nonviolence, she insists, is neither passive nor impractical. It is a disciplined approach that can be learned and applied, even in the most difficult circumstances.

The “houses of peace” Pope Leo envisions, she adds, can help communities grow in nonviolence both as a spiritual path and as an effective response to the many forms of violence present in today’s world.

“We are learning that nonviolent strategies work, and they often work better than armed responses.”

A claim on hope

Concluding, Dennis expresses gratitude for the Pope’s message.

“It is a strong articulation of another way,” she says. “The world needs it so badly right now.”

Pope Leo XIV’s World Day of Peace message, she explains, is ultimately a claim on hope, not a denial of suffering or conflict, but a courageous insistence that peace, grounded in Gospel nonviolence, remains possible.

“And that,” she concludes, “is very, very important.”