2026-08-14
"Disarm technology, serve peace. Politics as preventive responsibility": the theme of Pope Leo XIV's message for the 60th World Day of Peace, to be celebrated on January 1, 2027, was unveiled by the Vatican on August 11, 2026. In continuity with his encyclical Magnifica Humanitas, the Pope invites reflection on the relationships between technological progress, political power, and peace.
In his encyclical published in 2026, Pope Leo XIV recalled that technological development cannot be separated from human dignity, the Vatican explains in a note accompanying the publication of the theme. "Even when machines excel in efficiency, the center of history remains a human face," the Pope had written in his document offering a critical reflection on the use of artificial intelligence.
"It is therefore not acceptable to entrust to artificial systems decisions that are lethal or, in any case, irreversible," Leo XIV affirmed, insisting that there is "no algorithm capable of making war morally acceptable."
This is why the Pope uses the term "disarm" to designate not only the limitation of military uses of artificial intelligence, but also the necessity of withdrawing technological power from a logic of domination.
Technology must remain subject to human, democratic, and ethical deliberation: it must be "debatable, contestable, and therefore inhabitable," Leo XIV wrote. This responsibility requires in particular common rules capable of preventing technological innovations from becoming instruments that escape human control, the Vatican warns.
Peace cannot therefore be entrusted to algorithms, nor can it result from mere technological superiority -- a position the Pope has reiterated on numerous occasions, in interventions frequently interpreted as more or less explicit criticism of the positions of the Trump administration.
In his message opening the year 2027, the Pope will issue an urgent appeal to the international community to promote common agreements capable of preserving human responsibility and humanitarian principles in contexts where human lives and peaceful coexistence among peoples are at stake, the Vatican explains.
The full content of this peace message will be unveiled at a later date. The World Day of Peace, instituted by Pope Paul VI on January 1, 1968, in the context of the Vietnam War, is celebrated each year on the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God -- the liturgical feast that opens the civil year. The 2027 edition will mark its 60th anniversary.