By Devin Watkins
As he prepares to depart on his Apostolic Journey to Türkiye and Lebanon, Pope Leo XIV released The Pope Video on Wednesday to accompany his prayer intention for December, which is for “Christians living in areas of conflict.”
“Let us pray that Christians living in areas of war or conflict, especially in the Middle East, might be seeds of peace, reconciliation, and hope,” he said in the video.
The Pope then offered a prayer to the God of Peace that Christians surrounded by pain may feel the “gentle kindness of your presence and the prayers of their brothers and sisters in faith.”
He prayed that God may help them strengthen fraternal bonds and become seeds of reconciliation that build hope and bridges of justice and mercy.
Pope Leo invited all Christians to pray that we may never grow indifferent to the suffering of other Christians, but rather that we may be builders of unity.
‘Unshakable faith even amid rubble’
The Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network, which produces the monthly Pope Video with Vatican Media, released a communique linking the prayer intention with his visit to Türkiye and Lebanon.
Even as the Middle East faces instability, Christian communities continue to safeguard the faith, serve the poor, and work together with people of other Churches and faiths to build bridges of coexistence.
“According to Aid to the Church in Need’s Religious Freedom Report 2025,” noted the statement, “the number of conflicts in the Middle East and the socio-economic conditions there expose religious minorities, and Christians in particular, to a condition of extreme vulnerability.”
In their “unshakable faith even in the midst of rubble,” Christian communities are coming back to life after recent wars and offering charitable aid and spiritual assistance to others.
“All of these are signs of the presence of that Holy Spirit who, as the prayer reads, the Pope says, is ‘the source of hope in the darkest times’.”
Text of Pope Leo’s prayer intention
God of peace,
who through the blood of Your Son
has reconciled the world to Yourself,
today we pray for Christians
living amidst wars and violence.
Even surrounded by pain, may they
never cease to feel the gentle kindness of your presence
and the prayers of their brothers and sisters in faith.
For only through You, and strengthened by fraternal bonds,
can they become the seeds of reconciliation,
builders of hope in ways both small and great,
capable of forgiving and moving forward,
of bridging divides,
and of seeking justice with mercy.
Lord Jesus, who called blessed
those who work for peace,
make us Your instruments of peace
even where harmony seems impossible.
Holy Spirit,
source of hope in the darkest times,
sustain the faith of those who suffer and strengthen their hope.
Do not let us fall into indifference,
and make us builders of unity, like Jesus.
Amen.
