Pope starts recent 12 months with call for peace and debt forgiveness

In his message for World Day of Peace on 1 January, the Pope lamented the “devastation” seen in much of the earth and “the conflicts that presently plague our human family”.

Pope Francis said that certain challenges were causing “havoc” on this planet, including “the inhuman treatment meted out to migrants, environmental decay, the confusion willfully created by disinformation, the refusal to have interaction in any type of dialogue and the immense resources spent on the industry of war”.

“All these, taken together, represent a threat to the existence of humanity as a complete,” he said.

“At the start of this 12 months, then, we desire to heed the plea of suffering humankind in an effort to feel called, together and as individuals, to interrupt the bonds of injustice and to proclaim God’s justice.

“Sporadic acts of philanthropy will not be enough. Cultural and structural changes are essential, in order that enduring change may come about.”

He said he wanted 2025 to “be a 12 months by which peace flourishes”. 

“A real and lasting peace that goes beyond quibbling over the main points of agreements and human compromises,” he said.

The Pope also called for international debt forgiveness through the Catholic Church’s Jubilee 12 months, which is being marked throughout 2025.

“I actually have repeatedly stated that foreign debt has develop into a way of control whereby certain governments and personal financial institutions of the richer countries unscrupulously and indiscriminately exploit the human and natural resources of poorer countries, simply to satisfy the demands of their very own markets,” he said.

“In addition, different peoples, already burdened by international debt, find themselves also forced to bear the burden of the ‘ecological debt’ incurred by the more developed countries.

“Foreign debt and ecological debt are two sides of the identical coin, namely the mindset of exploitation that has culminated within the debt crisis.

“In the spirit of this Jubilee Year, I urge the international community to work towards forgiving foreign debt in recognition of the ecological debt existing between the North and the South of this world. This is an appeal for solidarity, but above all for justice.”

He continued, “The cultural and structural change needed to surmount this crisis will come about after we finally recognise that we’re all little kids of the one Father, that we’re all in his debt but in addition that we want each other, in a spirit of shared and diversified responsibility. We will find a way to ‘rediscover once for all that we want each other’ and are indebted one to a different.”

The Catholic Church holds a Jubilee once every 25 years as a time for Catholics to deal with renewing their faith and spiritual life.

The 2025 Jubilee of Hope was officially inaugurated by Pope Francis when he opened the Holy Door of Saint Peter’s Basilica on Christmas Eve.

In his final homily for 2024, Francis said that each one people were welcome to Rome through the Jubilee 12 months as he invited not only Catholics but “other Christians; believers in every religion, and seekers of truth, freedom, justice, and peace – all pilgrims of hope and fraternity”. 

“The hope of the world lies in fraternity,” he said. 

The Jubilee 12 months will conclude on 6 January 2026 when the identical Holy Door of Saint Peter’s Basilica is closed.

Inaugurating the 12 months, the Pope prayed, “May the sunshine of Christian hope illumine every man and woman, as a message of God’s love addressed to all.”