It is so easy to be caught up in the maelstrom of local and global unrest. Granted, we are having more than our fair share of it recently, but instead of looking up financing options for your backyard bunker, we have other paths to take, praise be to God. Some of these paths were itemized by Pope Leo XIV’s recent address to the Vatican Diplomatic Corps.
It is a meeting every pope holds at the beginning of a new year. I do not know where Leo was last January, but I can guarantee he did not have Iran, Venezuela, and Minnesota on his bingo card. And he most certainly did not imagine himself standing before a room full of Vatican diplomats giving them marching orders in January 2025.
But he delivered a beautifully crafted speech that deserved more attention than it received. You can read the whole thing.
The Holy Father may speak softly, but as this speech demonstrates, he talks big and bold, but tempered with humility and kindness. In the midst of what appears to be unprecedented upheaval around the globe, the Holy Father’s words were like a salve for those of us who may be worried by what they see on the nightly news or what they see 24 hours a day online.
It makes sense that an Augustinian would seek wisdom from St. Augustine. The pope cited Augustine several times, and nowhere more prescient than quoting the great Doctor of the Church when it comes to those who seek violent means as a political response: “Do not therefore wish to have no peace, but only peace that they desire.”
Augustine’s life was perfectly situated to understand power dynamics, straddling the fourth and fifth centuries. Global political power and local upheaval were current events then as well. And because he was once very much a part of that world and its power structure, until transformed by the amazing prayers of his mother and Jesus’ grace, he should be our “go to” guy in our current mess. His “City of God” should be on our bedside tables.
Augustine saw all of this before, and we can be sure there will be more of the same to come. But as Leo told the Vatican diplomats, every situation, no matter how far afield from where God wants us to be, is an opportunity to let in God’s grace. Augustine certainly agreed: “God is always trying to give good things to us, but our hands are too full to receive them.”
It may be small solace, but we have seen this movie before. History marches in circles sometimes, but as the example of Augustine shows us, Jesus drives a line right through the middle of it, and that line points upward — if we would just let him.
The pope has made another announcement that should fortify us in these troubled times. It is hard to dismiss this as just a coincidence, but 2026, a year that has begun with tumult and conflict, is also the 800th anniversary of the death of another important saint in the life of the Church. Leo has proclaimed a “Special Jubilee Year of Saint Francis,” which began on Jan. 10 of this year and will go to Jan. 10, 2027. If Augustine was a saint for all time, Francis is the saint we need most here and now.
Leo covers a lot of ground in his speech to the diplomats, but he was not just giving them instructions. If we read the words, it is plain to see they are a “how-to” manual for us in our daily lives, and along with the jubilee year of St. Francis, another opportunity to let peace begin with us. Through Leo, we have the connective spiritual tissue of Augustine’s wise counsel of accepting there are two realms in our reality — the earthly one that is broken from the Fall and the heavenly one we should be aiming for — and the example of St. Francis, who was certainly in the world but not of it.
The Vatican diplomats have been given their marching orders, and we pray they will be valiant and steadfast in their missions. But at the same time, we can heed the call from Leo and establish our own embassies of God’s message in our schools, at our jobs, and most importantly of all, within the geography of our own homes.
