Peace is not a utopia

El Heraldo de México

April 13, 2026

BY RODRIGO GUERRA LÓPEZ, SECRETARY OF THE PONTIFICAL COMMISSION FOR LATIN AMERICA

E-mail: rodrigoguerra@mac.com

https://heraldodemexico.com.mx/opinion/2026/4/13/la-paz-no-es-una-utopia-795043.html

Last Saturday, April 11, a large crowd awaited Leo XIV in the Square and in the packed St. Peter’s Basilica. With only a few days’ notice, the Pontiff had called for a prayer vigil for peace. At a time when military power asserts itself and the law of the strongest crushes international law, inviting people to pray appears, at the very least, naïve. Forceful solutions give the impression of greater realism and pragmatism. Both the political right and the left have long embraced the identification of truth with action. Nothing seems more foreign, then, than praying the rosary in the Vatican while asking for peace.

However, it is worth observing carefully that never before have the great political powers of the world possessed tools such as those available today to ensure strategic success. First, an enormous economic and military potential. Second, technological instruments that make it possible to optimize war efforts in previously unimaginable ways—satellite surveillance, artificial intelligence, weapons of mass destruction, and so forth. Third, highly pervasive media systems. And yet, the outcome of all this appears to be a profound failure. Armed conflicts that were expected to be brief seem to be prolonged. Governments that could easily have been intimidated or dissolved instead consolidate themselves and display resilience.

It is as if, suddenly and empirically, before everyone’s eyes, it once again becomes evident that pragmatism is not synonymous with realism, but rather one of its most pernicious ideological abstractions. There are always non-instrumentalizable aspects of reality that exceed a utilitarian perspective and that, quite often, are precisely the decisive factors in “making things happen.”

Legend has it that around 1943, Winston Churchill attempted to remind Joseph Stalin that, beyond maps, armies, and money, there also exists a spiritual and moral reality that cannot be ignored in times of armed conflict. Stalin, faithful to his understanding of power, replied: “How many divisions does Pope Pius XII have?” In those few words, an entire worldview was encapsulated. History would go on to show how a poor and orphaned young man, born in a marginal village in Poland, drawing upon other forces and entrusting himself to the dark visage of an ancient Marian icon, would influence the course of History in a way that Stalin could never have imagined.

Leo XIV, aware that the energies that truly transform the world are those capable of transforming hearts, said last Saturday: “the Church is a great people at the service of reconciliation and peace, advancing without hesitation, even when the rejection of the logic of war may cost it misunderstanding and contempt. She proclaims the Gospel of peace and teaches obedience to God rather than to men, especially when the infinite dignity of other human beings is at stake, endangered by the continuous violations of international law. Throughout the world, it is desirable that every community become a ‘house of peace,’ where we learn to defuse hostility through dialogue, where justice is practiced and forgiveness is preserved. Today more than ever, indeed, it is necessary to show that peace is not a utopia.”