The Commitment to Peace

THE COMMITMENT TO PEACE
Today, speaking about peace is difficult. There is no point hiding it. We are faced with scenes of war; we live in an era of rearmament at every level, an era of deep divisions. To many, those who believe in peace seem naïve, guided by good feelings and easy solutions. But this is not the case. In fact, it is exactly the opposite. Precisely in the most difficult moments, those who believe in a prophecy must feel the responsibility to proclaim it with even greater passion. We must not stop at a present that appears hopeless, but imagine beyond, dream, and commit ourselves to building what is not yet here. Those who remain stuck in the present risk staring at the finger and not seeing the moon; those who look beyond do not waste time fueling utopias, but sense the strength and beauty of prophecies.

ISAIAH’S PROPHECY
It was Giorgio La Pira, mayor of Florence, who made us fall in love with Isaiah’s prophecy, the words announcing a time when weapons will no longer be built and peoples will no longer learn the art of war. Starting from this vision, we understood that peace is not just a slogan to shout in squares or marches, nor a word to divide over or use to create false ideologies. Peace, like hope and love, is something concrete; it is a life choice that begins with each of us, a radical commitment to fight against all injustice. It is a path of harmony with ourselves, with others, and with nature. For believers, it is also a gift from God, the promise of a world in which all have full citizenship and full dignity. It means understanding that the good I can do cannot be done by anyone else, because it is the portion of good entrusted to me: it is my responsibility, to be lived first of all in my own life, since we can only be peacemakers if we are inwardly pacified and disarmed. Benigno Zaccagnini said that “weapons do not fire by themselves; they are only instruments, but war is born in the heart of man and it is in the heart of man that peace is sown.”

NO MORE WAR!
We have seen this good at work many times, beginning with the first years of converting the ruins of the military arsenal, with millions of young people and adults giving time, resources and skills. In more than 60 years of history, we have welcomed hundreds of thousands of people, promoted development projects in dozens of countries, and carried out 77 peace missions in war contexts. For us, the Arsenal has been the concrete place to already put Isaiah’s prophecy into practice and to show society that goodness is truly disarming, that it is possible to convert and to help others convert, to work so that disarmament treaties are promoted and weapons are no longer built, especially in a context in which technology opens vast and dangerous horizons, as shown by the risks related to nuclear weapons and the distorted use of cybersecurity or artificial intelligence. War is madness because it kills, produces hatred, division, personal wounds to be healed, revenge, even when weapons are silent and diplomacy verbally reaffirms the value of peace. War kills truth first of all; it reduces human richness to roles of victims and executioners, and prevents for very long periods the possibility of moving forward. War steals compassion, paralyzes and divides memories, perpetuates hatred in a sort of gray area that moves battlefields directly into people’s hearts.

THE STRENGTH OF LAW, NOT THE LAW OF THE STRONGEST
The peace indicated by Isaiah and the rejection of all war have been, are, and will be our compass. We have always affirmed this in every past conflict, not so much with words but through credible testimonies of charity and life choices given for the poorest. If the goal of peace is clear, we cannot ignore the human path that leads to that goal. For believers and for every person of good will, that path lies in history, in dialogue with humanity characterized by different faiths, cultures and beliefs, in a world that must be lived as it is, in a reality that knocks at the door and that we cannot ignore. With Isaiah’s dream in our hearts, we are called to enter into dialogue, find intermediate steps so that in every person’s heart the desire for peace may arise and solutions may be found that, step by step, progressively disarm first the conscience of each individual, then the peoples of the earth.

“Peace is not imposed automatically, by itself, but is the fruit of human will.” Today we are once again experiencing the nightmare—unexpected because unpredictable—of war on our continent. We see the attempt to impose a regression in history to an era of power politics, domination of some over others, the opposition of one people—sometimes masked under the expression “national interest”—against another. Imperialism and neo-colonialism have no right to exist in the third millennium, regardless of the forms they take. (Sergio Mattarella, Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, Strasbourg). The events of recent years, the Russian aggression against Ukraine, and the many often forgotten conflicts around the world have confronted us with an unprecedented situation: the questioning of the system of rules born from the “never again” vision after the fifty million dead of the Second World War, and of the post-1945 liberal and multilateral international order that was meant to ban war, with the United Nations acting as guarantor. In that moment, humanity managed to define at least on paper the prohibition of armed intervention by one sovereign State against another sovereign State. A clear principle that over the decades has encountered limits and inconsistencies, but one that must be defended as a bulwark of international legality. At the same time, the international community has tried to make progress in humanitarian law, the set of norms aimed at limiting the effects of conflicts, establishing principles regarding prisoners of war, the use of weapons of mass destruction, and the protection of civilians. This latter point, in particular, is increasingly ignored, as shown by the degeneration of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict with the Hamas massacres of 7 October 2023 and the war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by Israel in the Gaza Strip.

CREDIBLE INSTITUTIONS AND COMMON DEFENSE
In such a complex scenario, we need authoritative and credible institutions, a “legal pacifism” that goes beyond nation-states in favor of multilateralism and the strengthening of supranational entities to which the resolution of disputes may be entrusted, such as the UN. The United Nations must be reformed so that it becomes truly credible, plural and effective, capable of finding proportionate and legitimate decision-making mechanisms to stop aggression even when it comes from countries that have responsibilities within the organization itself. The European Union, too, born partly from the suffering of war, was created to stop conflicts among its member states—and it succeeded, making law the instrument of peace. That same European Union must today be relaunched, overcoming national logics and completing a deeper and fuller political union, of which the theme of common defense as a deterrent—an idea imagined by the founders but never realized—is an integral part. Thus, the value of politics and diplomacy, of cooperation and multilateralism: horizons from which today’s world seems to be moving away, but which must urgently be reaffirmed, developing new ideas and solutions. We live in a time that considers this heritage and this vision of history almost as a problem. A state of affairs well described by the words of Pope Leo XIV pronounced on 26 June 2025: “It is truly sad to witness today in so many contexts the imposition of the law of the strongest, according to which one’s interests are legitimized. It is painful to see that the strength of international and humanitarian law no longer seems to be binding, replaced by the supposed right to force others. This is unworthy of man, shameful for humanity and for national leaders.”

THE COMMITMENT OF THE SERMIG
Remaining firmly anchored to a paradigm of peace means keeping in mind article 11 of the Italian Constitution, a fundamental text that urges us to reconcile a dual tension: the “rejection of war” as a means of offense and the ceding of portions of sovereignty to an international order, such as the UN or the EU, entrusted with guaranteeing peace and justice among States. This was the will of the Constituent Assembly during its work. For our Fraternity, this means safeguarding a double sensitivity as two sides of the same coin: first, the stimulus to commit ourselves even more to education for peace and justice, to the rejection of violence, to the care of consciences of the people we meet, to witness and serve the weakest and the victims of every abuse, to put Isaiah’s prophecy into concrete practice through works and development projects throughout the world. At the same time, it means not being afraid to call things by their name, never confusing aggressors and the aggrieved, neutrality and historical responsibility, and considering also the moral value of defending victims and showing solidarity with them. And, in the case of the European Union, continuing to insist on the irreplaceable role of politics and diplomacy, called to reclaim their space so that the political vacuum is not filled by war. Reaffirming peace as a plural value, intrinsically linked to democracy, because there is no peace without freedom. International institutions can stand only if democracies and the rule of law are stronger than dictatorships. From this perspective, it then becomes possible to envision a truly European common defense, coordinated and integrated, and not simply national. For this, we need passionate young people, willing to be trained, to study, to acquire skills, to bear witness to a peace mindset, with an additional commitment to renewing the strength of democracy and the common good by filling it with content, participation, motivation. Humanity needs young people and adults committed to peace. Not a generic, decontextualized, ideological or naïve peace, but one founded on the reality of the horrors of war, on the search for truth and on the pursuit of mediation, conflict resolution and reconciliation. If we give our lives for this commitment, we will become indomitable, we will feel the urgency not to remain silent, we will bear witness that humanity can be reborn, because each of us is ready to do so. And so, let us prepare peace with the strength of our choices, our actions, our thought. Let us defend the cause of peace without fear! Let us first ask it for ourselves: “Peace, what can I do for you?” A question seemingly small but one that can change the world. It is not an utopia. It is a prophecy for humanity, to be lived with all our strength.

Sermig
Arsenale della Pace
NP October 2025