‘And so this is Christmas’ is a song that remains a festive favourite, 55 years after it was written by John Lennon and Yoko Ono. One day around Christmas I heard it on the car radio three times! Its impactful words and catchy melody remind that whilst we are able to celebrate Christmas and the New Year, others aren’t so lucky. The refrain, ‘War is over if you want it’ prompts reflection during the season of peace.
The idea is that we are all responsible for conflict and can choose to end it. As long as people imagine they have no control over violence, then they have no control. We have a choice to remove the fear of war that hangs over us, just as it more immediately hangs over communities from Gaza to Sudan to Myanmar.
And we need to ask: Does everybody want to end war? Responses can range from considering war a necessary evil to wanting to fuel wars for profit – which is the stance of those involved in arms trading. Remember that the UK is one of the world’s largest arms traders.
In addition, modern audiences are no strangers to violence in the cinema and on television, and perhaps we have become desensitised to it. Seeing people get punched, maimed, blown up, or killed on screen is common, to the extent that we barely cringe when we see it anymore. And perhaps in the real world we have too much tolerance for actual conflicts and wars going on – and there are far too many of them. We do get pangs of conscience when we see mothers and children struggle to survive each day amidst the ruins of Gaza, or young families on tiny boats in the Mediterranean fleeing conflict in Sudan, but whilst charity may be forthcoming, isn’t it also important to join campaigns to abolish war or reduce military expenditure. How many of us believe that we can build a world without militarism and injustice?
Well, the Church is responding.
Pope Leo’s theme for World Peace Day in January 2026 is: ‘Peace be with you all – Towards an ‘unarmed and disarming peace.’ Catholics in England and Wales celebrate a special Sunday for Peace on 18 January. We are reminded that Christians are people of peace, trying to be peacemakers. Christ proclaims peace to his followers after the Resurrection, and Pope Leo too often greets audiences with “Peace be with you.”
Pax Christi, the international Catholic movement for peace, is permitted a special collection in parishes on Peace Sunday. In return, it provides peace education expertise to parishes, schools, and youth networks. It campaigns for disarmament, and the abolition of nuclear weapons. The August anniversaries of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki are commemorated annually, and arms fairs are opposed in different towns and cities. Pax Christi promotes a just peace for Palestine and Israel by working in solidarity with peacemakers from all sides – Israeli, Palestinian, Christian, Jewish and Muslim. It upholds the rights of conscientious objectors in different countries, marking International Conscientious Objectors’ Day on 15 May. Discussion sessions in person and on zoom to advance understanding of active nonviolence are organised throughout the year.
In preparing for the 2026 World Peace Day, Pax Christi’s UK President, Archbishop John Arnold of Salford, wrote: “I encourage you to celebrate Peace Sunday in your parish, underlining that it is the task of all of us to be peacemakers.”
Columbans in Britain have been involved in peaceful protests and vigils tackling arms trading and war preparations. We regularly attend vigils every two years at the London ExCel centre where a huge Defence Services Equipment International Arms Fair is held. Every Ash Wednesday for nearly four decades, Columbans have joined campaigners from Pax Christi, Christian CND, London Catholic Worker and Justice & Peace networks to challenge the UK Government’s nuclear weapons policy at the Ministry of Defence in London’s Whitehall. A recent placard outside the building read: ‘Spending on nuclear weapons squanders the wealth of nations…when these resources are squandered, the poor and the weak pay the price.’
Amongst the Columbans, Irish priest Fr. Niall O’Brien, who died two decades ago, is still remembered, particularly in the Philippines, as an international advocate of active nonviolence. He led thousands on the island of Negros on protest walks against violence and injustice, doing so peacefully. Niall promoted a theology of nonviolence, spelled out in his three published books. He felt that peacemaking through nonviolence can work, it just isn’t tried very much. This theology, so neglected down through the centuries, was so central to the life of Jesus. Niall was a founder of Pax Christi in the Philippines.
Today, Columban Fr. Pat Cunningham supports on-going peace camps outside the nuclear base on South Korea’s Jeju Island which has devastated communities and the beautiful environment. Locals and various South Korean human rights organisations and religious groups see the island’s history as peaceful and free from militarism. War destroys habitats and biodiversity. And the presence of landmines and toxic waste makes it difficult for fauna to repopulate and vegetation to regrow for decades.
Earlier this year the UK government increased defence spending, including substantial funds to military projects such as nuclear submarines and warheads, while reducing overseas aid spending. The Church has been critical of this. It considers that security needs to be seen in much broader terms that are not dominated by military and arms company interests. A wider security policy would allocate resources according to actual threats and benefits, including addressing major causes of insecurity such as inequality and climate change.
Pope Leo XlV is a prophetic leader, challenging the waging of war and war planning. “Peace be with you” was his first greeting to the faithful and the world after the papal election in May. Let us join him in celebrating Peace Sunday.
