Pope: Europe must embrace its roots to build peace and unity
Pope Leo XIV said Europe’s Christian roots and openness to the transcendent can help build peace and unity. He highlighted the influence of Saint Benedict and the role of Christian tradition in shaping European institutions and civilization. The Pope said values such as human dignity, equality, freedom, democracy, and respect for the rule of law can support harmony in multicultural societies. He called for welcoming and integrating migrants, and said Europe should pursue peace through dialogue and encounter rather than conflict or rearmament.
3 days ago
Pope Leo XIV used the final day of his visit to France to call for a Europe grounded in its Christian and historical heritage while remaining open to cultural encounter, migration and dialogue. In Metz, he linked the continent’s prospects for peace and unity to respect for human dignity, international law and the reconciliation of differences. 1 2 6
Speaking at the Robert Schuman Conference Centre at a gathering titled “To the Roots of Europe: For Peace and Unity,” Leo described Europe primarily as a cultural and historical reality, shaped over centuries by encounters among civilizations and peoples. He highlighted St. Benedict and monastic communities’ historical contributions to care for vulnerable people, education, medicine, law and the development of European society. 1 6
The pope said Europe’s Christian inheritance helped shape values associated with Robert Schuman and Alcide De Gasperi, including equality, the dignity of work, responsibility, charity, respect for law, and commitment to truth and justice. He added that recognizing this heritage was not solely a religious criterion, and connected openness to the transcendent with an understanding of human personhood and civilization. 1 6
Leo also cited human rights, freedom, democracy, equality and the rule of law as shared foundations for multicultural societies. He called for respect for religious freedom and cooperation between churches and public authorities, alongside dialogue with people of other cultures. 1 6
Addressing migration, Leo described the movement of people into Europe as an unprecedented encounter between cultures. He urged Europe to provide safe and legal ways to enter, protect and assist migrants, and integrate them into communities, while also listening to newcomers and renewing its understanding of its own roots. 2 6
Drawing on Schuman’s legacy, Leo called for peace pursued through patient dialogue and negotiation. He cautioned against both “naïve pacifism” and the belief that rearmament alone can secure peace, and argued that international law and multilateralism can counter domination by affirming equality among states. 1 6
He said Europe’s postwar experience showed that competing interests can be addressed through encounter rather than conflict. In his message to young people, he urged them to promote peace, resist violence and oppression, defend human dignity, build families and work for the common good, including through political engagement. 1 2 6
Earlier, Leo met with religious representatives, including the chief rabbi of France and members of Muslim, Buddhist, Protestant and Orthodox communities. The gathering included the reading and signing of an interreligious declaration; Leo said religions should be measured by how they care for and protect people, especially the vulnerable. 2
At Mass in Metz’s Cathedral of St. Stephen, Leo reflected on the region’s history as a crossroads and frontier marked by conflict. Using images from the day’s reading—the desert, garden and house—he said peace, though a gift from God, also requires people’s shared effort, expressed through love, forgiveness and care for one another. 3 5
He argued that forgiveness and reconciliation are not signs of weakness, and said reconciliation requires breaking cycles of resentment. The cathedral’s stained-glass windows, he said, offer an image of how distinct histories and cultures can come together: Europe’s future lies not in uniformity but in “the harmony of differences.” 3 5*
Christian anthropology as a foundation for peace in pluralistic Europe
Christian anthropology can serve as a foundation for peace in pluralistic Europe when it is offered not as a demand for religious uniformity, but as a vision of the human person that supports the dignity, rights, and flourishing of everyone. It holds that each person bears a God-given dignity, is made for relationship, and belongs to a wider human community. From this follow practical demands: protect human life, uphold justice, welcome difference, and seek the common good.
Christian anthropology begins with the person’s dignity as created in the image of God. That dignity is not earned through wealth, status, productivity, nationality, or religious belief. John Paul II described this Christian understanding of the person as a keystone capable of holding together Europe’s different cultures, peoples, and religions.
This vision gives peace a moral foundation. If every person possesses intrinsic worth, then no one may be treated merely as a threat, a tool, a commodity, or an obstacle. Pope Francis connected the violation of peace to practices that deny this truth—including terrorism that disregards innocent life and human trafficking that turns people into merchandise.
Christian anthropology also rejects the idea that freedom means isolation. The Church’s account of the person is relational: people discover and develop themselves through relationships, families, and communities. A European society that recognizes this can resist both extreme individualism and the exclusion of those who are different.
This does not mean that everyone must share one religion or culture. Ecclesia in Europa describes Europe’s task as building “unity in diversity,” a community of reconciled nations that recognizes human dignity alongside reason, freedom, democracy, the rule of law, and the distinction between political life and religion. The Christian contribution is therefore not to erase pluralism, but to help ground mutual respect in a deeper account of why every person deserves it.
Peace is not simply the temporary absence of war or disagreement. Pope Francis describes it as both God’s gift and the fruit of human actions directed toward the common good in truth and love. He warns against responding to conflict by stoking fear or marginalizing those who think or live differently; conflict must be faced, but without losing sight of the deeper unity of human life.
That approach makes dialogue essential. Christians can contribute to public life by working with people of other convictions for inclusion, solidarity, and peace. The Holy See has presented these as practical “building stones” of Europe, rooted in recognition of the other as a person and in the shared life of community.
The Church’s claim is not that political institutions should impose Christian belief. Ecclesia in Europa explicitly recognizes the legitimate autonomy of the civil order and says the Church is not entitled to prescribe a particular constitutional arrangement for Europe. At the same time, it argues that Christian faith can illuminate the moral principles that sustain human rights, solidarity, and the common good.
So Christian anthropology can support peace in pluralistic Europe by offering reasons to protect every person, foster responsible freedom, and build communities that welcome difference. Its credibility depends on Christians embodying those principles: respecting the dignity of others, seeking reconciliation, and serving the common good alongside people of different beliefs. John Paul II likewise connected the Christian vision of the human person with the hope of lasting peace, justice, and solidarity among peoples.