On August 31, 2025, the somber bells of St. Peter’s Square rang out as Pope Leo XIV addressed the world, his voice laced with sorrow and urgency. The tragedies he spoke of—one unfolding in the churning Atlantic waters off Mauritania, the other echoing across the battered cities of Ukraine, and yet another in a schoolyard in Minneapolis—painted a portrait of a world in crisis, yet one not without hope.
Just days earlier, on August 27, a migrant boat carrying over 160 people, mostly of Senegalese and Gambian origin, set out from The Gambia. Their aim: the Canary Islands, a Spanish archipelago seen by many as a gateway to Europe and, perhaps, a better life. But the journey, spanning 1,100 kilometers (about 685 miles) across the Atlantic, is infamously perilous. According to InfoMigrants and corroborated by the NGO Caminando Fronteras, it is the deadliest migration route in the world. This time, tragedy struck with merciless force. The vessel capsized off the coast of Mauritania, and while rescuers managed to save 17 people, as many as 140 are feared dead, with more than 50 confirmed dead and around 100 still missing.
“This deadly tragedy is repeated every day around the world,” Pope Leo XIV lamented, as reported by Vatican News. He called on the faithful not to turn away. “Let us pray that the Lord may teach us, as individuals and as a society, to fully put into practice His word: ‘I was a stranger and you welcomed me’.” The Pope’s invocation of Matthew 25:35 was not just a call for prayer, but a challenge to societies everywhere to look inward and confront their own capacity for compassion.
The numbers are staggering. Caminando Fronteras estimates that in 2024 alone, more than 10,400 migrants died or disappeared at sea while attempting to reach Spain. The real toll, experts say, is almost certainly higher. Many boats vanish without a trace, their passengers’ fates swallowed by the sea and silence. The boat that capsized last week had left The Gambia six days before disaster struck. Survivors, exhausted and traumatized, recounted their ordeal to rescuers. Their stories, like so many before, are reminders of the desperation that drives people to risk everything for a chance at a new beginning.
Pope Leo XIV did not mince words about the cost of indifference. “Our hearts are also wounded by the more than 50 people who died and the 100 or so still missing following the shipwreck of a boat carrying migrants,” he said, as cited by InfoMigrants. “We entrust all our injured, missing, and dead, everywhere, to our Saviour’s loving embrace.” His words carried a weight that transcended borders, echoing in the halls of power and in the hearts of ordinary people alike.
The Pope’s address, however, was not limited to the tragedy at sea. Turning his attention to Ukraine, he spoke with equal urgency about the ongoing war that has gripped the nation since 2022. “Sadly, the war in Ukraine continues to sow death and destruction,” he declared, according to Shafaq News and Vatican News. “Even in recent days, bombings have struck several cities, including the capital Kyiv, causing numerous casualties.”
He renewed his appeal for peace, calling upon world leaders to abandon what he called “the logic of weapons” and to embrace dialogue and negotiation, with the support of the international community. “It is time for those in power to abandon the logic of weapons and to take up the path of negotiation and peace,” Pope Leo XIV insisted. “The voice of weapons must fall silent, and the voice of fraternity and justice must prevail.”
His message was clear: the suffering in Ukraine is not a distant tragedy, but a shared wound. He urged everyone not to “give in to indifference,” but instead to draw near through prayer and, crucially, through concrete acts of charity. “I renew my closeness to the Ukrainian people and to all the injured families,” he said, reiterating his urgent call for a ceasefire and a serious commitment to dialogue.
As if the weight of these crises were not enough, Pope Leo XIV also responded to violence closer to home. Switching to English, he prayed for the victims of a shooting at a Catholic school in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The shooting, which occurred in late August, left the community reeling. “We include in our prayers the countless children killed and injured every day around the world,” the Pope said, his voice heavy with grief. “Let us plead with God to stop the pandemic of arms, large and small, which infects our world.”
He invoked the Blessed Virgin Mary, Queen of Peace, asking for her intercession so that humanity might “fulfill the prophecy of Isaiah: ‘They shall beat their swords into ploughshares and their spears into pruning hooks.’” The Pope’s call was both spiritual and practical, urging action against what he described as a global pandemic of violence fueled by weapons.
Each of these tragedies—the migrant shipwreck, the war in Ukraine, the school shooting in Minneapolis—was, in the Pope’s view, a symptom of a deeper malaise: a world too often ruled by fear, division, and the logic of violence. Yet, his message was not one of despair. Instead, he pointed toward hope, rooted in solidarity and the willingness to welcome the stranger, comfort the afflicted, and work for peace.
For the families of the missing and the dead off Mauritania, for the parents mourning in Minneapolis, and for the people of Ukraine enduring another year of war, the Pope’s words offered a measure of comfort—and a challenge. “Let us pray that the Lord will teach us, as individuals and societies, fully to put into practice his words: ‘I was a stranger and you welcomed me,’” he said, his voice echoing across continents.
As the world grapples with these intertwined crises, the Pope’s message resonates: compassion, not indifference, must guide our response. Whether facing the perils of migration, the horrors of war, or the scourge of gun violence, he called on all people to “draw close through prayer and concrete gestures of charity.” In a time marked by suffering and uncertainty, his appeal for fraternity and justice is a reminder that even in the darkest moments, humanity’s better angels can—and must—prevail.
