Though diplomacy and dialogue are essential for positive international relations, they must be accompanied by “a deeper conversion of heart,” the pope said.

Pope Leo XIV told a group of ambassadors on Thursday that nations should measure their success by how well they treat those on the margins, not by the level of power or prosperity they have reached.

“Courteous and clear dialogue, essential though it is, must be accompanied by a deeper conversion of heart: the willingness to set aside particular interests for the sake of the common good,” the pope said in the Clementine Hall of the Apostolic Palace on May 21.

“No nation, no society, and no international order can call itself just and humane if it measures its success solely by power or prosperity while neglecting those who live at the margins,” he continued. “Indeed, Christ’s love for the least and the forgotten compels us to reject every form of selfishness that leaves the poor and the vulnerable invisible.”

Leo received in audience the new ambassadors to the Holy See from Sierra Leone, Bangladesh, Yemen, Rwanda, Namibia, Mauritius, Chad, and Sri Lanka on the occasion of the presentation of their credentials.

Diplomat Urujeni Bakuramutsa presents her credentials to Pope Leo XIV to begin her term as ambassador of Rwanda to the Holy See during an audience in the Apostolic Palace on May 21, 2026. | Credit: Vatican Media

Referencing his address to the diplomatic corps in January, the Holy Father emphasized the “urgent need for a return to ‘a diplomacy that promotes dialogue and seeks consensus’ on all levels — bilateral, regional, and multilateral.”

Dialogue motivated by a sincere search for peace, he added, “demands that words once again express clear realities without distortion or hostility.”

He urged diplomats and international organizations to be animated by a “spirit of self-giving solidarity … in order to create spaces for encounter and mediation.”

The pope assured the ambassadors of the readiness of the Secretariat of State and dicasteries of the Roman Curia to assist them as they undertake their new responsibilities.

“At a moment when geopolitical tensions continue to fragment our world further, it is necessary to make them more representative, effective, and oriented toward the unity of the human family,” he said.

“May your mission strengthen dialogue, deepen mutual understanding, and contribute to the peace so greatly needed in our world.”

This article was originally published by EWTN News English.