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Through our various ministries and agencies, we exist to serve the people of God, enabling the Gospel of Jesus Christ to come alive in our local community.
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27 November 2025
3 minutes
Carol Glatz (CNS) and Melbourne Catholic
On the eve of his departure for his first apostolic journey, to Türkiye and Lebanon, Pope Leo XIV has asked Catholics to join him in praying for Christians living in areas of war or conflict, especially in the Middle East.
May they ‘be seeds of peace, reconciliation and hope,’ he says in this last prayer intention of the year.
The Pope’s video sharing his prayer intention for December was distributed on 26 November by the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network, with the collaboration of Vatican Media.
Reciting a prayer to the ‘God of peace,’ he says, ‘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.’
Only through God, ‘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,’ Pope Leo says.
‘Lord Jesus, who called blessed those who work for peace, make us your instruments of peace even where harmony seems impossible,’ he prays.
‘Holy Spirit, source of hope in the darkest times, sustain the faith of those who suffer and strengthen their hope,’ the Pope prays. ‘Do not let us fall into indifference, and make us builders of unity, like Jesus.’
Like Pope Leo XIV’s first apostolic journey, the November prayer intention focuses on one of the most politically and economically unstable in the world, and one of the least safe. Aid to the Church in Need’s Religious Freedom Report 2025 shows that conflicts in the Middle East and socioeconomic conditions make religious minorities—especially Christians —extremely vulnerable.
After two years of war, with homeless families taking refuge in churches, the population in Palestine is exhausted and depleted. In Iraq and Syria, political instability, insecurity and the lack of opportunities for young people hamper efforts at reconstruction. And in Lebanon, a deepening economic crisis is driving thousands to emigrate, emptying parishes and schools. In the midst of these struggles, though, small Christian communities maintain the faith, serving the poor and reaching out to their neighbours of other faiths.
The images featured in the prayer video—depicting unshakable faith in the midst of the rubble—convey the extraordinary strength of the parish community of Gaza even as bombs fall around them, celebrations in Iraqi villages as the war ends and life returns, Caritas’ inspiring work in Lebanon among the poor and refugees, and the spiritual haven offered by monks in Syria, all signs of the Holy Spirit’s presence and of ‘hope in the darkest times’.
Banner image: Pope Leo XIV’s prayer intention for December is ‘For Christians in areas of conflict’. The Pope’s prayer and a video to accompany it were released by the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network on 26 November 2025. (Photo: CNS/courtesy Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network.)
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Kimberley Heatherington and Cecilia Seppia (OSV News)
Melbourne Catholic
Cindy Wooden (CNS)
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