Pope: “On Pilgrimage to Build a World of Brotherhood and Peace”

“Hope never disappoints. Pilgrims to a Better World,” edited by Hernan Reyes Alcaide (PM Publishing), is Pope Francis’s new book to be released on November 19 in Italy, Spain, and Latin America on the occasion of Jubilee 2025. The Italian newspaper La Stampa anticipated some excerpts from the volume, in which the Holy Father focuses on topics such as the family, education, the global socio-political and economic situation, poverty, migration, the climate crisis, new technologies, and peace.

Francis explains that “it is absolutely necessary to address the reasons leading to migration in countries of origin,” adopting the Message for the 2017 World Day of Migrants and Refugees, according to the Pontiff, it is necessary that “space be given for genuine development, this promotes the good of all populations, especially boys and girls, the hope of humanity. If we want to solve a problem that affects us all, we must do so by integrating countries of origin, transit, destination, and return of migrants.” It is a challenge in the face of which “no country can be left alone, and no one can think of solving this problem in isolation with more restrictive and repressive laws, sometimes passed under the pressure of fear or in search of electoral advantage.”

Hospitality is the key word: “Let’s think about the recent examples we’ve seen in Europe. The still-open wound of the war in Ukraine has led to thousands of people leaving their homes, especially in the early months of the conflict. But we have also witnessed the non-limited admission of many border countries, as in the case of Poland. Something similar has happened in the Middle East, where the open doors of countries like Jordan or Lebanon continue to be a lifeline for millions of people fleeing conflict in the region.”

And there are words going around the world about Gaza in particular: “According to some experts, what is happening in Gaza has the characteristics of genocide. This should be carefully examined to determine whether it meets the technical definition formulated by lawyers and international organizations.”

Better living conditions for all and a world that truly puts people at the center are achieved by taking “a fundamental preliminary step, which is destined to put an end to the unequal conditions of exchange between the different countries of the world. In the links between many of them a certain fiction has been established which shows the appearance of an ostensibly commercial exchange, but in reality it consists only of a transaction between subsidiary companies that plunder the territories of poor countries and send their products and profits to the parent companies in the developed countries.”

Francis talks about the exploitation of Africa: “After the political colonialism, an equally defeatist ‘economic colonialism’ was unleashed. Thus, this country, largely plundered, cannot sufficiently capitalize on its vast resources: we have reached the paradox that the fruits of its land make it ‘alien’ to its inhabitants. The poison of greed has stained its diamonds with blood.”

Instead, migration is a resource: “Well-managed migration could help tackle the serious crisis caused by fertility rates in many countries, especially in European countries. This is a very serious problem, and people from other countries could help solve it if they fully integrate and stop being considered second-class citizens.”

Regarding environmental protection, the Pope rebukes what has not been done in recent years, revealing the hope associated with new generations: “We have failed in the management of creation, and for this reason we appreciate the spirit of initiative of the new generations who do not want to repeat our mistakes and seek to leave the common home better than they got it (…) mass mobilizations of students in different cities, and I know some of the actions through which they fight for a more just and attentive world to the protection of the environment. They act with care, enthusiasm, and, above all, with a sense of responsibility towards the urgent change of direction imposed on us by the challenges posed by the current ethical and socio-environmental crisis. Time is running out.”

On wars and memory: “Those who do not know their history are doomed to repeat it. No one better than our elders can give us a living testimony of some events that we don’t want to ever happen again on our planet. That Europe, which for nearly three years has been the epicenter of this splintered Third World War that we are experiencing, is a continent that spent thirty years in fratricidal wars in the last century and then experienced the painful separation of fraternal nations when the Berlin Wall fell. It cannot be a coincidence that these new winds of war are blowing in the Old World when the ranks of direct witnesses to the barbarism of totalitarianism are increasingly thinning or, worse, when they are marginalized as museum pieces unable to offer their precious value of testimony.”

Learning from the past to project ourselves into the future: “We are called to live a just and sustainable lifestyle that gives the Earth the rest it deserves, as well as a livelihood for everyone that does not destroy the ecosystems that sustain us (…) We are called to step out of our comfort zone and offer creative solutions and alternatives so that the planet remains livable and our existence on Earth is not jeopardized.”

All of this reasoning derives from and should point to a fundamental value: “The dignity of every man and woman is our primary concern in building a future from which no one will be excluded. It is no longer simply a matter of ensuring the noncontinuity of the human race on an increasingly threatened planet, but of ensuring continued respect for this life. And if we couldn’t react in time when faced with an environmental problem, we can instead do so when faced with what is perceived as one of the most profound transformations in recent human history, the penetration of AI into all areas of our daily lives.”

The year 2025 will be the year of the Jubilee, and the Pope invites us to become “pilgrims of hope.” “Hope is our anchor and our sail. May it take us on a pilgrimage to build that more fraternal world of which we dream, in which the dignity of man prevails over all divisions, and is in harmony with Mother Earth.”