On Aug. 27 the Vatican will publish a compilation of Pope Leo’s discourses from the first months of his pontificate in a book signed by the pontiff titled “Let There Be Peace! Words to the Church and the World.”
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According to the Vatican publishing house, the 160-page volume, which will be published in Italian, English, and Spanish, “is a valuable book: It collects the first discourses of Pope Leo XIV, through which we can better understand the pontiff through his own words.”
The book’s title underscores the Holy Father’s emphasis on calling for peace, which began from the very moment of his election on May 8, when he exclaimed from St. Peter’s:
“Peace be with you all! Dear brothers and sisters, these are the first words spoken by the risen Christ, the Good Shepherd who laid down his life for God’s flock. I would like this greeting of peace to resound in your hearts, in your families, among all people, wherever they may be, in every nation and throughout the world. Peace be with you! It is the peace of the risen Christ. A peace that is unarmed and disarming, humble and persevering. A peace that comes from God, the God who loves us all, unconditionally.”
According to information provided by the Vatican, the ideas that stand out in the first discourses of Leo XIV’s pontificate include “the primacy of God, communion in the Church, the search for peace.”
The pontiff has also emphasized the fundamental importance of “an irrevocable commitment for anyone who exercises a ministry of authority in the Church: to disappear so that Christ may remain, to become small so that he may be known and glorified.”
Also notable in the book’s first pages are his calls to strive for “a united Church, a sign of unity and communion, which may become leaven for a reconciled world.”
This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.
