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MESSAGE
OF HIS HOLINESS POPE FRANCIS
FOR THE LVIII WORLD DAY OF PEACE
1st JANUARY 2025
Forgive us our trespasses: grant us your peace
I. Listening to the plea of an endangered
humanity
1. At the dawn of this New Year given to us by
our heavenly Father, a year of Jubilee in the
spirit of hope, I offer heartfelt good wishes of
peace to every man and woman. I think especially
of those who feel downtrodden, burdened by their
past mistakes, oppressed by the judgment of
others and incapable of perceiving even a
glimmer of hope for their own lives. Upon
everyone I invoke hope and peace, for this is a
Year of Grace born of the Heart of the Redeemer!
2. Throughout this year, the Catholic Church
celebrates the Jubilee, an event that fills
hearts with hope. The “jubilee” recalls an
ancient Jewish practice, when, every forty-ninth
year, the sound of a ram’s horn (in Hebrew,
jobel) would proclaim a year of forgiveness and
freedom for the entire people (cf. Lev 25:10).
This solemn proclamation was meant to echo
throughout the land (cf. Lev 25:9) and to
restore God’s justice in every aspect of life:
in the use of the land, in the possession of
goods and in relationships with others, above
all the poor and the dispossessed. The blowing
of the horn reminded the entire people, rich and
poor alike, that no one comes into this world
doomed to oppression: all of us are brothers and
sisters, sons and daughters of the same Father,
born to live in freedom, in accordance with the
Lord’s will (cf. Lev 25:17, 25, 43, 46, 55).
3. In our day too, the Jubilee is an event that
inspires us to seek to establish the liberating
justice of God in our world. In place of the
ram’s horn, at the start of this Year of Grace
we wish to hear the “desperate plea for help”
[1] that, like the cry of the blood of Abel (cf.
Gen 4:10), rises up from so many parts of our
world – a plea that God never fails to hear. We
for our part feel bound to cry out and denounce
the many situations in which the earth is
exploited and our neighbours oppressed. [2]
These injustices can appear at times in the form
of what Saint John Paul II called “structures of
sin”, [3] that arise not only from injustice on
the part of some but are also consolidated and
maintained by a network of complicity.
4. Each of us must feel in some way responsible
for the devastation to which the earth, our
common home, has been subjected, beginning with
those actions that, albeit only indirectly, fuel
the conflicts that presently plague our human
family. Systemic challenges, distinct yet
interconnected, are thus created and together
cause havoc in our world. [4] I think, in
particular, of all manner of disparities, the
inhuman treatment meted out to migrants,
environmental decay, the confusion willfully
created by disinformation, the refusal to engage
in any form of dialogue and the immense
resources spent on the industry of war. All
these, taken together, represent a threat to the
existence of humanity as a whole. At the
beginning of this year, then, we desire to heed
the plea of suffering humankind in order to feel
called, together and as individuals, to break
the bonds of injustice and to proclaim God’s
justice. Sporadic acts of philanthropy are not
enough. Cultural and structural changes are
necessary, so that enduring change may come
about. [5]
II. A cultural change: all of us are debtors
5. The celebration of the Jubilee spurs us to
make a number of changes in order to confront
the present state of injustice and inequality by
reminding ourselves that the goods of the earth
are meant not for a privileged few, but for
everyone. [6] We do well to recall the words of
Saint Basil of Caesarea: “Tell me, what things
belong to you? Where did you find them to make
them part of your life? … Did you not come forth
naked from the womb of your mother? Will you not
return naked to the ground? Where did your
property come from? If you say that it comes to
you naturally by luck, you would deny God by not
recognizing the Creator and being grateful to
the Giver”. [7] Without gratitude, we are unable
to recognize God’s gifts. Yet in his infinite
mercy the Lord does not abandon sinful humanity,
but instead reaffirms his gift of life by the
saving forgiveness offered to all through Jesus
Christ. That is why, in teaching us the “Our
Father”, Jesus told us to pray: “Forgive us our
trespasses” ( Mt 6:12).
6. Once we lose sight of our relationship to the
Father, we begin to cherish the illusion that
our relationships with others can be governed by
a logic of exploitation and oppression, where
might makes right. [8] Like the elites at the
time of Jesus, who profited from the suffering
of the poor, so today, in our interconnected
global village, [9] the international system,
unless it is inspired by a spirit of solidarity
and interdependence, gives rise to injustices,
aggravated by corruption, which leave the poorer
countries trapped. A mentality that exploits the
indebted can serve as a shorthand description of
the present “debt crisis” that weighs upon a
number of countries, above all in the global
South.
7. I have repeatedly stated that foreign debt
has become a means of control whereby certain
governments and private financial institutions
of the richer countries unscrupulously and
indiscriminately exploit the human and natural
resources of poorer countries, simply to satisfy
the demands of their own markets. [10] In
addition, different peoples, already burdened by
international debt, find themselves also forced
to bear the burden of the “ecological debt”
incurred by the more developed countries. [11]
Foreign debt and ecological debt are two sides
of the same coin, namely the mindset of
exploitation that has culminated in the debt
crisis. [12] In the spirit of this Jubilee Year,
I urge the international community to work
towards forgiving foreign debt in recognition of
the ecological debt existing between the North
and the South of this world. This is an appeal
for solidarity, but above all for justice. [13]
8. The cultural and structural change needed to
surmount this crisis will come about when we
finally recognize that we are all sons and
daughters of the one Father, that we are all in
his debt but also that we need one another, in a
spirit of shared and diversified responsibility.
We will be able to “rediscover once for all that
we need one another” and are indebted one to
another. [14]
III. A journey of hope: three proposals
9. If we take to heart these much-needed
changes, the Jubilee Year of Grace can serve to
set each of us on a renewed journey of hope,
born of the experience of God’s unlimited mercy.
[15]
God owes nothing to anyone, yet he constantly
bestows his grace and mercy upon all. As Isaac
of Nineveh, a seventh-century Father of the
Eastern Church, put it in one of his prayers:
“Your love, Lord, is greater than my trespasses.
The waves of the sea are nothing with respect to
the multitude of my sins, but placed on a scale
and weighed against your love, they vanish like
a speck of dust”. [16] God does not weigh up the
evils we commit; rather, he is immensely “rich
in mercy, for the great love with which he loved
us” ( Eph 2:4). Yet he also hears the plea of
the poor and the cry of the earth. We would do
well simply to stop for a moment, at the
beginning of this year, to think of the mercy
with which he constantly forgives our sins and
forgives our every debt, so that our hearts may
overflow with hope and peace.
10. In teaching us to pray the “Our Father”,
Jesus begins by asking the Father to forgive our
trespasses, but passes immediately to the
challenging words: “as we forgive those who
trespass against us” (cf. Mt 6:12). In order to
forgive others their trespasses and to offer
them hope, we need for our own lives to be
filled with that same hope, the fruit of our
experience of God’s mercy. Hope overflows in
generosity; it is free of calculation, makes no
hidden demands, is unconcerned with gain, but
aims at one thing alone: to raise up those who
have fallen, to heal hearts that are broken and
to set us free from every kind of bondage.
11. Consequently, at the beginning of this Year
of Grace, I would like to offer three proposals
capable of restoring dignity to the lives of
entire peoples and enabling them to set them out
anew on the journey of hope. In this way, the
debt crisis can be overcome and all of us can
once more realize that we are debtors whose
debts have been forgiven.
First, I renew the appeal launched by Saint John
Paul II on the occasion of the Great Jubilee of
the Year 2000 to consider “reducing
substantially, if not cancelling outright, the
international debt which seriously threatens the
future of many nations”. [17] In recognition of
their ecological debt, the more prosperous
countries ought to feel called to do everything
possible to forgive the debts of those countries
that are in no condition to repay the amount
they owe. Naturally, lest this prove merely an
isolated act of charity that simply reboots the
vicious cycle of financing and indebtedness, a
new financial framework must be devised, leading
to the creation of a global financial Charter
based on solidarity and harmony between peoples.
I also ask for a firm commitment to respect for
the dignity of human life from conception to
natural death, so that each person can cherish
his or her own life and all may look with hope
to a future of prosperity and happiness for
themselves and for their children. Without hope
for the future, it becomes hard for the young to
look forward to bringing new lives into the
world. Here I would like once more to propose a
concrete gesture that can help foster the
culture of life, namely the elimination of the
death penalty in all nations. This penalty not
only compromises the inviolability of life but
eliminates every human hope of forgiveness and
rehabilitation. [18]
In addition, following in the footsteps of Saint
Paul VI and Benedict XVI, [19] I do not hesitate
to make yet another appeal, for the sake of
future generations. In this time marked by wars,
let us use at least a fixed percentage of the
money earmarked for armaments to establish a
global Fund to eradicate hunger and facilitate
in the poorer countries educational activities
aimed at promoting sustainable development and
combating climate change. [20] We need to work
at eliminating every pretext that encourages
young people to regard their future as hopeless
or dominated by the thirst to avenge the blood
of their dear ones. The future is a gift meant
to enable us to go beyond past failures and to
pave new paths of peace.
IV. The goal of peace
12. Those who take up these proposals and set
out on the journey of hope will surely glimpse
the dawn of the greatly desired goal of peace.
The Psalmist promises us that “steadfast love
and faithfulness will meet; righteousness and
peace will kiss” ( Ps 85:10). When I divest
myself of the weapon of credit and restore the
path of hope to one of my brothers or sisters, I
contribute to the restoration of God’s justice
on this earth and, with that person, I advance
towards the goal of peace. As Saint John XXIII
observed, true peace can be born only from a
heart “disarmed” of anxiety and the fear of war.
[21]
13. May 2025 be a year in which peace
flourishes! A true and lasting peace that goes
beyond quibbling over the details of agreements
and human compromises. [22] May we seek the true
peace that is granted by God to hearts disarmed:
hearts not set on calculating what is mine and
what is yours; hearts that turn selfishness into
readiness to reach out to others; hearts that
see themselves as indebted to God and thus
prepared to forgive the debts that oppress
others; hearts that replace anxiety about the
future with the hope that every individual can
be a resource for the building of a better
world.
14. Disarming hearts is a job for everyone,
great and small, rich and poor alike. At times,
something quite simple will do, such as “a
smile, a small gesture of friendship, a kind
look, a ready ear, a good deed”. [23] With such
gestures, we progress towards the goal of peace.
We will arrive all the more quickly if, in the
course of journeying alongside our brothers and
sisters, we discover that we have changed from
the time we first set out. Peace does not only
come with the end of wars but with the dawn of a
new world, a world in which we realize that we
are different, closer and more fraternal than we
ever thought possible.
15. Lord, grant us your peace! This is my prayer
to God as I now offer my cordial good wishes for
the New Year to the Heads of State and
Government, to the leaders of International
Organizations, to the leaders of the various
religions and to every person of good will.
Forgive us our trespasses, Lord,
as we forgive those who trespass against us.
In this cycle of forgiveness, grant us your
peace,
the peace that you alone can give
to those who let themselves be disarmed in
heart,
to those who choose in hope to forgive the debts
of their brothers and sisters,
to those who are unafraid to confess their debt
to you,
and to those who do not close their ears to the
cry of the poor.
From the Vatican, 8 December 2024
FRANCIS
___________________________
[1] Bull of Indiction of the Ordinary Jubilee of
the Year 2025 Spes Non Confundit (9 May 2024),
8.
[2] Cf. SAINT JOHN PAUL II, Apostolic Letter
Tertio Millennio Adveniente (10 November 1994),
51.
[3] Encyclical Letter Sollicitudo Rei Socialis
(30 December 1987), 36.
[4] Cf. Address to Participants in the Summit of
the Pontifical Academies of Sciences and of
Social Sciences, 16 May 2024.
[5] Cf. Apostolic Exhortation Laudate Deum (4
October 2023), 70.
[6] Cf. Bull of Indiction of the Ordinary
Jubilee of the Year 2025 Spes Non Confundit (9
May 2024), 16.
[7] Homilia de avaritia, 7: PG 31, 275.
[8] Cf. Encyclical Letter Laudato Si’ (24 May
2015), 123.
[9] Cf. Catechesis, 2 September 2020:
L’Osservatore Romano, 3 September 2020, p. 8.
[10] Cf. Address to Participants in the Meeting
“Addressing the Debt Crisis in the Global South”
, 5 June 2024.
[11] Cf. Address to the Conference of Parties to
the United Nations Framework Convention on
Climate Change – COP 28, 2 December 2023.
[12] Cf. Address to Participants in the Meeting
“Addressing Debt Crisis in the Global South”, 5
June 2024.
[13] Cf. Bull of Indiction of the Ordinary
Jubilee of the Year 2025 Spes Non Confundit (9
May 2024), 16.
[14] Encyclical Letter Fratelli Tutti (3 October
2020), 35.
[15] Cf. Bull of Indiction of the Ordinary
Jubilee of the Year 2025 Spes Non Confundit (9
May 2024), 23.
[16] Oratio X, 100-101: CSCO 638, 115. Saint
Augustine could even state that God remains
constantly in our debt: “Since ‘your mercy is
everlasting’, you deign by your promises to
become a debtor to all those whose sins you
forgive” (cf. Confessions, 5, 9, 17: PL 32,
714).
[17] Apostolic Letter Tertio Millennio
Adveniente (10 November 1994), 51.
[18] Cf. Bull of Indiction of the Ordinary
Jubilee of the Year 2025 Spes Non Confundit (9
May 2024), 10.
[19] Cf. SAINT PAUL VI, Encyclical Letter
Populorum Progressio (26 March 1967), 51;
BENEDICT XVI, Address to the Diplomatic Corps
accredited to the Holy See, 9 January 2006;
Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation Sacramentum
Caritatis (22 February 2007), 90.
[20] Cf. Encyclical Letter Fratelli Tutti (3
October 2020), 262; Address to the Diplomatic
Corps accredited to the Holy See, 8 January
2024; Address to the Conference of Parties to
the United Nations Framework Convention on
Climate Change – COP 28, 2 December 2023.
[21] Cf. Encyclical Letter Pacem in Terris (11
April 1963), Carlen 113.
[22] Cf. Moment of Prayer on the Tenth
Anniversary of the “Invocation for Peace in the
Holy Land”, 7 June 2024.
[23] Bull of Indiction of the Ordinary Jubilee
of the Year 2025 Spes Non Confundit (9 May
2024), 18.
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