This morning, in the Paul VI Hall in the Vatican, the Holy Father Leo XIV received in audience the participants in the Jubilee of Italian Diplomacy, to whom he delivered the following address:

Address of the Holy Father

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

Peace be with you!

Dear Minister,

Your Reverend Excellency,

Your Excellencies,,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I am particularly pleased to greet you and to welcome you today, on the occasion of this Jubilee of Italian Diplomacy. Your pilgrimage to the Holy Door qualifies this meeting of ours, and allows me to share the hope we carry in our hearts and wish to bear witness to our neighbours. This virtue, in fact, does not concern a vague desire for uncertain things, but is the name that the will takes when it firmly strives for the good and justice that it feels is lacking.

Hope offers, then, a valuable meaning for the service you perform: in diplomacy, only those who truly hope always seek and support dialogue between the parties, trusting in mutual understanding even in the face of difficulties and tensions. Since we hope to understand each other, we strive to do so by seeking the best ways and words to reach agreement. In this regard, it is significant that pacts and treaties are sealed by an agreement: this closeness of heart – ad cor – expresses the sincerity of gestures, such as a signature or a handshake, which would otherwise be reduced to procedural formalities. This is a characteristic feature that distinguishes authentic diplomatic mission from self-interested calculations or from the balance between rivals who hide their respective differences.

Dear friends, to resist such tendences, let us look to the example of Jesus, whose witness of reconciliation and peace shines as a hope for all peoples. In the name of the Father, the Son speaks with the strength of the Holy Spirit, beacon of hope for all peoples. In the name of the Father, the Son speaks with the power of the Holy Spirit, bringing about dialogue between God and humankind. Therefore, all of us, made in God’s image, experience in dialogue, listening and speaking, the fundamental relationships of our existence.

It is not a coincidence that we call our native language our mother tongue, that which expresses the culture of our homeland, our fatherland, uniting the people like a family. In its own language, every nation attests to a specific understanding of the world, its loftiest values as well as its most everyday customs. Words are the common heritage through which the roots of the society we inhabit flourish. In a multi-ethnic environment, it therefore becomes essential to take care of dialogue, promoting mutual and intercultural understanding as a sign of welcome, integration and fraternity. At the international level, this same style can bear the fruits of cooperation and peace, provided that we persevere in educating our way of speaking.

Only when a person is honest, in fact, do we say that they are “true to their word”, because they keep it as a sign of constancy and fidelity, without changing their mind. In the same way, a person is consistent when they do what they say: their word is the good pledge they give to those who listen to them, and the value of the word given shows how much the person who says it is worth.

In particular, Christians are always people of the Word: the Word they hear from God, first and foremost, responding in prayer to his fatherly call. When we were baptised, the sign of the Cross was traced on our ears, saying, “Ephphatha”, meaning “Be opened”. In that gesture, which recalls the healing performed by Jesus, the sense through which we receive the first words of affection and the indispensable cultural elements that sustain our life, in the family and in society, is blessed.

Like the senses and the body, language must also therefore be educated, precisely in the school of listening and dialogue. Being both authentic Christians and honest citizens means sharing a vocabulary capable of telling things as they are, without duplicity, cultivating harmony among people. Therefore, it is our and your commitment, especially as Ambassadors, always to encourage dialogue and to re-establish it whenever it is interrupted.

In an international context wounded by violations and conflicts, let us remember that the opposite of dialogue is not silence, but offence. Indeed, where silence opens up to listening and welcomes the voice of those who stand before us, offense is a verbal aggression, a war of words armed with lies, propaganda and hypocrisy.

Let us strive with hope to disarm proclamations and speech, taking care not only of their beauty and precision, but first and foremost honesty and prudence. Those who know what to say do not need many words, but only the right ones: let us therefore practise sharing words that do good, choosing words that build understanding, and bearing witness to words that repair wrongs and forgive offences. Those who tire of dialogue tire of hoping for peace. In this regard, ladies and gentlemen, I recall with you the heartfelt appeal that Saint Paul VI addressed to the United Nations Assembly exactly sixty years ago. What unites men, my venerable Predecessor noted, is a pact sealed with “an oath that ought to change the future history of the world: never again war, never again war! It is peace, peace that has to guide the destiny of the nations of all mankind!” (Address to the United Nations, 5). Yes, peace is the duty that unites humanity in the common quest for justice. Peace is the intention that, from the night of Christmas accompanies the entire life of Christ, up to the Pasch of his death and resurrection. Peace is the definitive and eternal good that we hope for everyone.

In order to preserve and promote true peace, be men and women of dialogue, wise in reading the signs of the times according to that code of Christian humanism that is at the basis of Italian and European culture. Wishing you all the best for the service you are called to perform, I impart my Apostolic Blessing to you and your families.