Pontiff to Diplomats: Build Community with a Diplomacy of Hope, Truth

"Human beings, for that matter, are endowed with an innate thirst for truth. That is a fundamental aspect of our human condition, as every person carries deep within a longing for objective truth and an irrepressible desire for knowledge. While this has always been the case, in our time the denial of self-evident truths seems to have gained the upper hand." Address of His Holiness Pope Francis to Members of the Diplomatic Coprs Accredited to the Holy See, Hall of Benediction, Thursday, 9 January 2025.

As with any great leader late in their years, most especially the Successors of St. Peter, Pope Francis's teachings continue to coalesce around a few familiar themes—those that have always been at the foundation of his messages and preaching, and for which he will be remembered.

Indeed, his 2025 annual address to the Vatican's diplomatic corps offers something of a primer on his thought and what will surely be the lasting thematic contribution of his papacy. In particular, we find within this latest message a sort of call for an ecology of relation, authentically rooted in objective, universal truths, to counter the ideological divisions of our age.

The Holy Father easily calls out the root of this division. As had his predecessors, Francis stresses how our modern ills stem from a growing addiction to one's "personal truths."

"Some distrust rational argumentation, believing it to be a tool in the hands of some unseen power, while others believe that they unequivocally possess a truth of their own making, and are thus exempt from discussion and dialogue with those who think differently. Others tend to invent their own 'truth', disregarding the objectivity of reality. These tendencies can be amplified by the modern communications media and by artificial intelligence; they can be misused to manipulate minds for economic, political and ideological ends."

The solution, of course, is a shared truth. More specifically, it is sharing in the very Truth at the heart of all things.

"A diplomacy of hope is consequently, above all, a diplomacy of truth. If the link between reality, truth and knowledge is missing, human beings will no longer be able to speak and understand one another, because the foundations of a common language, anchored in the reality of things and therefore universally comprehensible, are lacking. The purpose of language is communication, which is only successful if words are precise and the meaning of terms is generally accepted. The biblical account of the Tower of Babel shows what happens when everyone speaks only in his or her 'own' language." (Italics original)

Calling to mind a wide range of issues—from drug addiction to migration, warfare to religious freedom—Francis links such a diplomacy of hope and truth with diplomacies of freedom, forgiveness, and justice. How he does this—especially with his specific call to the financial agreements made at COP 29, which he sees as an act of justice, most especially between the global north and south—is emblematic of who Francis is and what his pontificate holds dear.

Indeed, Pope Francis is continuing to call our attention to the gospel, as well as how our fallen world creates realities that separate rather than bring us into relation.

For the Catholic ecologist, such division and subjective approaches to reality are two significant causes of the modern disregard for the truths of both the natural world and of Nature itself—Human Nature in particular. There can be no appreciable fix of our sins against the former without looking at the wider causes of division and the overriding, popular denial of objective truth.

And that, my friends, gets to the heart of our continued mission to protect and nurture the great garden of life that has been bestowed to us by God.

"If you want to cultivate peace, protect creation," Pope Benedict XVI famously observed in his January 1, 2010 Message for the World Day of Peace. That message was built on one ten years earlier by Benedict's dear friend and predecessor, St. Pope John Paul II. Indeed, the title of that message—also issued for the World Day of Peace—was Peace with God the Creator, Peace with All Creation.

John Paul II wrote therein:

"The ecological crisis reveals the urgent moral need for a new solidarity, especially in relations between the developing nations and those that are highly industrialized. States must increasingly share responsibility, in complimentary ways, for the promotion of a natural and social environment that is both peaceful and healthy."

In other words, Francis and his two immediate predecessors all champion the same sort of relational underpinnings for improving humanity's current state of affairs. Yes, each pontiff has their own style and way of teaching, all in light of their own particular human strengths and values, but they are related in this message: The work of the Church is to share the gospel of life with recognition that at its foundation, that good news champions the truth that humanity has been made in the image and likeness of the Triune God, who is love and relationship itself.

And so, with God's grace, it is love and relation that we must champion first. Only then can we build—or, rather, rebuild—cultures that seek the great common good of the created order because they seek first the Kingdom of God.