Father Nicola Bux on what Donald Trump has not understood and what Pope Leo has yet to say regarding the Church’s role in peace
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Here below is a guest commentary by Father Nicola Bux, a priest of the Italian Archdiocese of Bari, a professor of theology, and a former consulter to the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith:
Popes from John XXIII to Leo XIV have, in different ways, separated the question of peace from the concrete reality of the Church; as a result, their appeals for peace risk becoming utopian — aspirations that lack the means necessary for their fulfilment.
This separation appears when peace is framed primarily as a political or humanitarian goal: ending wars, encouraging dialogue, and fostering cooperation among nations. These aims are good, but when they are presented without reference to the Church’s essential mission — the conversion of persons and peoples to Christ — they lose their foundation. Peace becomes an external arrangement rather than the fruit of an interior transformation.
The Gospel presents a different logic. After His Resurrection, Christ gives peace to His Apostles and immediately commands them to make disciples of all nations (Mt 28:19). The universality of this mission shows that peace is inseparable from the spread of the Gospel and the establishment of the Church. The Church is not merely a promoter of peace; she is its source in history, because she is the body of Christ, who is Himself our peace.
The early Christians understood this unity clearly. For them, peace and communion were inseparable realities. In the Church, divisions of language, ethnicity, and nation were overcome through a shared life in Christ. The inscriptions “pax” and “irene” on Christian tombs expressed the conviction that peace was fulfilled in communion with God and His people. Peace was not an abstract ideal but a lived experience grounded in faith.
When this connection is weakened, the pursuit of peace becomes superficial. Symbolic gestures and diplomatic efforts may express goodwill, but they cannot resolve the deeper disorder within the human person. As Isaiah teaches, “the work of justice will be peace” (Is 32:17), and justice depends on right relationship with God. Without conversion, there is no lasting moral order, and without moral order, peace cannot endure.
For this reason, the Church’s mission is indispensable. Faith comes from hearing the Gospel, and from faith comes conversion — a real change of life. Where this occurs, reconciliation, justice, and solidarity become possible. The spread of the Church is therefore not opposed to peacebuilding; it is its necessary condition. To speak of peace without proclaiming Christ is to propose an effect without its cause.
This helps explain why many modern appeals to peace appear ineffective. They call for universal fraternity without addressing how human beings can truly become brothers and sisters. Detached from the transformative power of the Gospel, such appeals remain aspirations rather than realities.
At the same time, charity requires recognizing that God can act through those outside the Church. Scripture shows this in figures who prophesy or act in God’s name without belonging to the visible community of believers. Political leaders, too, can contribute to peace in partial ways. Yet their role cannot replace the Church’s mission. When the Church adopts primarily political categories or is perceived as just another diplomatic actor, her identity is obscured and her message misunderstood.
This confusion is evident in contemporary tensions between political figures and the papacy. When the Pope is treated chiefly as a head of state, his evangelical mission is reduced to diplomacy. Conversely, when the Church does not speak clearly about conversion and moral truth, some believers seek clarity elsewhere, even in flawed political alternatives. This dynamic reveals a weakening in how the relationship between peace and the Church is understood.
The remedy is not to abandon calls for peace, but to ground them once more in their true source. The Pope and the bishops must place at the center the call that begins the Gospel itself: conversion to God. Peace will not come simply through negotiation or the balancing of interests, but through transformed hearts.
Only in this way can appeals for peace avoid becoming utopian. When peace is understood as the fruit of communion with Christ, and when the Church is recognised as the place where this communion is offered to all, it becomes a real — if never complete — possibility within history. The more the Church fulfils her mission, the more the conditions for peace take root in the world.
Father Nicola Bux, Bari, April 18, 2026
https://open.substack.com/pub/edwardpentin/p/building-peace-without-christ?r=2x82t4&utm_medium=ios
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