(ZENIT News / Rome, 08/26/2025) – Starting Wednesday, August 27, the book «Let There Be Peace! Words to the Church and to the World» by Pope Leo XIV will be available in bookstores (Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 160 pages, 15 euros), published in Italian, English, and Spanish.
In his first appearance before the world, Leo XIV expressed his desire for an «unarmed and disarming» peace, the kind of peace about which Christian de Chergé, Prior of Tibhirine, in Algeria, had already written. May 8, the day of the election of Robert Prevost to the papacy, was the Liturgical Memorial of the martyrs of Algeria.
In his first addresses, the American Pope conveyed to all some of his priorities: the primacy of God, communion in the Church, and the pursuit of peace. He emphasized the fundamental and irreplaceable commitment of those who exercise authority in the Church: to disappear so that Christ may remain, to become small so that He may be known and glorified. He confided what he «would like to be our first great desire: a united Church, a sign of unity and communion, which would become leaven for a reconciled world.» His countless calls for reconciliation are not only addressed to politics, but also to the heart of every person: «Peace begins with each one of us: with the way we look at others, listen to others, and speak of others.»
This is a beautiful book: it compiles the first addresses of Pope Leo XIV, which allow us to better understand the Pontiff through his own words. Robert Francis Prevost was born on September 14, 1955, in Chicago, USA. In 1977, he entered the novitiate of the Order of Saint Augustine; on August 29, 1981, he made his solemn vows and on June 19, 1982, he was ordained a priest. In 2001, he was elected Prior General of the Order. In 2015, he was appointed Bishop of Chiclayo, Peru. In 2023, Pope Francis appointed him Prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops and President of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America. He was created Cardinal on September 30, 2023. He was elected Pope on May 8, 2025, with the name of Leo XIV.
