Grand Master Fra’ John Dunlap’s letter in reply to Pope Leo XIV’s message for the 59th World Day of Peace, 1 January 2026

Most Blessed Father,

The entire Order of Malta, with its Professed Knights, its Priests, Lay members, Volunteers and Employees, as well as myself, welcomed with profound attention and sincere gratitude the Message that Your Holiness addressed to humanity on the occasion of the 59th World Day of Peace.

Your words, illuminated by the Gospel and the Magisterium of Your Venerated Predecessors and supported by a profound understanding of the dynamics of our time, constitute a demanding, timely and necessary call to the moral responsibility of people, institutions and communities.

With just over a month to go until the end of New START, the last nuclear-arms reduction treaty between the Russian Federation and the United States still in force, this Message resonates with particular strength at a historic moment marked by a global and rapid rearmament, by an increasingly polarized public language and a climate of growing acceptance of the idea of conflict as an inevitable outcome of international relations. History teaches, with dramatic clarity, that such dynamics have often preceded great collective tragedies.

The Order of Malta, albeit its long and glorious tradition of armed service to protect Pilgrims and Christianity, fully shares Your Holiness’ warning against the progressive normalization of war in public discourse. In this respect, Your Holiness has recalled the responsibility of the means of communication, which are called upon to inform without fuelling fears, hatred or belligerence. When the media language renounces complexity, when it reduces reality to Manichean patterns and diplomacy as a sign of weakness, it contributes —even involuntarily— to preparing the ground for violence. Peace, on the other hand, needs words that open up spaces of understanding, not narratives that prohibit any possibility of mediation.

In this context, the responsibility of governments emerges very clearly. At a time when Europe, though marked by a deep tradition of reconciliation and integration, is struggling to exercise a credible role of conflict mediation, it becomes urgent to rediscover the political vocation to serve the common good and peace. Authentic leadership is not measured by the ability to accommodate collective fears, but by the courage to propose avenues for dialogue, even when they appear difficult or unpopular.

Your Holiness also pointed out, with foresight, the danger of triggering a real self-fulfilling prophecy, because constantly preparing for war ends up making it more likely. Already in the last century, authoritative voices and even a great President of the United States, Dwight Eisenhower, warned against the risk that defence-related economic and industrial interests would gain disproportionate weight in guiding political choices, conditioning nations’ priorities and reducing the space for peaceful solutions. This risk does not belong to a single country or era, but is recurring today, in different forms, in many parts of the world.

The Order of Malta, faithful to its mission as it has evolved over the centuries, receives in Your Message a pressing appeal to resist these tendencies. As a Religious Order of the Church and, at the same time, a subject of International Law engaged in humanitarian action on a global level, we feel with particular intensity the responsibility to translate Your Holiness’ appeal into concrete action: in assisting victims of conflict, in protecting civilians, in promoting humanitarian law and dialogue among nations, always at the service of the dignity of the human person.

In reaffirming our filial communion with Your Holiness, I assure you that the Order of Malta will continue to operate, in the most vulnerable and forgotten contexts, as an instrument of industrious charity and a silent yet resolute witness to peace.

With respectful homage, I plead a blessing from Your Holiness for our Order and its Volunteers who daily serve those who suffer in every corner of the world.

Most Devoted in Christ,
Fra’ John Dunlap