Pope Leo Entrusts Peace to Mary, Urges an End to Conflict

Vatican, August 16, 2025: Following the Angelus on the Feast of the Assumption, Pope Leo reflected on Mary’s enduring role in offering hope across the centuries and urged everyone not to lose hope amid violence.

Speaking after the Angelus prayer in Castel Gandolfo, the Pope marked the Solemnity of the Assumption of Mary by entrusting his prayer for peace to her intercession. He observed that Mary “suffers for the evils that afflict her children, especially the little ones and the weak.” Over the centuries, he noted, she has shown her closeness to those in need through messages and apparitions.

Recalling that Pope Pius XII proclaimed the dogma of the Assumption in 1950—shortly after the devastation of World War II—Pope Leo quoted his predecessor’s words: “There is reason to hope that all who reflect on Mary’s glorious example will be ever more convinced of the value of human life.” Pope Pius had also expressed his wish that the world might never again witness the “butchery of human life through war.”

Pope Leo stressed that these words remain relevant today. “We sadly feel powerless in the face of the growing spread of violence in the world – a violence increasingly deaf and unfeeling toward any impulse of humanity.”

Yet, he insisted, hope must not be abandoned. God, he affirmed, is greater than human sin and the violence around us. “We must not resign ourselves to the dominance of conflict and weapons,” he declared, adding that with Mary, we know God continues to help us. It is only through God’s mercy, he concluded, that “we can rediscover the path of peace.”

Courtesy: Vatican News

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