Vatican reveals theme for 2025 World Day of Peace

By Christopher Wells

“Only from a true conversion at all levels – personal, local and international – can true peace flourish,” the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Development affirms in its statement on the theme of the 2025 World Day of Peace. The Dicastery adds that peace comes not only from the end of conflicts, “but also from a new reality in which wounds are healed and the dignity of every person is recognized.”

World Peace Day is celebrated every year on January 1st.stthe Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God. Since its establishment in 1967 by Pope Saint Paul VI, popes have taken the opportunity to offer magisterial reflections in Daily Messages, addressing topics such as the United Nations, human rights, diplomacy and economic development.

The theme chosen by the Holy Father for the World Day of Peace 2025 is “Forgive us our trespasses: grant us your peace”, corresponding to “the biblical and ecclesial understanding of the Jubilee Year”.

Hope and forgiveness at the heart of the Jubilee

In its statement, the Dicastery indicates that the theme is inspired by the encyclical letters of Pope Francis Praise be to you And All brothers“and above all by the concepts of Hope and Forgiveness, which are at the heart of the Jubilee, a time of conversion that calls us not to condemn, but to achieve reconciliation and peace.”

The Dicastery goes on to stress that “considering the reality of the conflicts and social sins that afflict humanity today, in light of the hope inherent in the Jubilee tradition of the forgiveness of sins and the cancellation of debts, as well as the reflections of the Fathers of the Church on this subject, concrete principles emerge that can lead to much-needed spiritual, social, economic, ecological and cultural change.”