At the end of the year, Pope Leo XIV criticized the plans of the great powers to divide the world according to their interests. At a service in St. Peter’s Basilica on New Year’s Eve, he said that the plans that dominate the world today are “strategies aimed at conquering markets, territories and spheres of influence.”
These are “armed strategies that are cloaked in hypocritical speeches, ideological slogans and false religious motives”.
The Pope contrasted this with the message of the birth of Christ and said: “In our time we feel the need for a wise, benevolent and merciful plan. “According to a project that is free and sets you free, that promises peace and is faithful,” just as the birth of Christ through Mary was.
He said that the world is moved forward by the hope of “many simple people, unknown but not unknown to God, who despite everything believe in a better tomorrow, because they know that the future lies in the hands of the one who gives them the greatest hope.”