Pope Leo: War fuels a ‘vicious cycle’ of environmental destruction
VATICAN CITY (RNS) — Pope Leo XIV connected the exploitation of the environment to the proliferation of war, calling for a spiritual and ecological transformation in a message for the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation released Thursday (Aug. 20).
“Today, we are witnessing many crises and much human suffering,” the pope wrote, while “at the same time, it seems that the disruption to the harmonious balance of creation is accelerating.”
“These phenomena are not unrelated; they are a single plea for healing and peace arising from a wounded world,” he wrote.
World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation, celebrated Sept. 1, is supported by the World Council of Churches and invites all Christians to pray and enact measures for the protection of the Earth.
Leo’s message was inspired by the prophet Isaiah (2:4), who imagined a day when resources would be used for agriculture and sustaining life instead of war. “But today, we too often witness the very opposite, as efforts continue to be directed toward violence and war,” he wrote.
The pope has made peace a central aspect of his papacy, repeatedly making appeals for reconciliation and dialogue among nations. In his most recent public appeal, he called for an end of violence in the West Bank as Israeli settler violence surges.
Pope Leo XIV delivers the Angelus noon prayer in Castel Gandolfo, Italy, Sunday, Aug. 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
On Thursday, the pope met with Joseph Aoun, the president of Lebanon, which is currently under attack by Israeli forces combating Hezbollah in the south. The pope expressed “deep concerns” about the challenges of applying the countries’ delicate agreement toward peace, mediated by the United States and signed in June.
“War leaves wounds that extend far beyond the battlefield,” the pope said. “War also leaves behind social and ecological destruction that endures for generations,” adding that this creates a “vicious cycle” that destroys ecosystems and essential resources, creating new forms of inequality and social tensions that ultimately lead to new conflicts.
“This is not only a political failure, but also a moral and spiritual one,” he wrote.
The pope also pointed toward how individuals can address discord and division within themselves.
“The wounds of war and the degradation of the Earth, then, are profoundly linked to the condition of the human heart,” he wrote. “What is broken around is also broken within us.”
People fill water containers at a distribution point due to war-related water outages in Khartoum, Sudan, Friday, Jan. 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Marwan Ali)
Leo called not only for a renewal in political structures but also within people’s hearts. Conflict and exploitation of the environment “stem from an ethical and cultural crisis,” which includes a desire for domination and profit, no sense of limits and not recognizing the dignity of every human being, he said.
“Peace, then, begins in the heart and flows outward to our relationships, communities and the broader world,” he wrote.
He concluded his message by imagining a world where resources used to invest in war were directed toward supporting people in harmony with the environment, combating poverty and bringing peace.
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