For common coexistence – August Video of the Pope 2025

Rome (Italy). The theme chosen by Pope Leo XIV for the Pope’s August 2025 Video represents a challenge for humanity and for the mission of the Church today: conflicts within societies. For this reason, he asks the faithful to pray:

“so that societies in which coexistence seems more difficult do not give into the temptation of confrontation on ethnic, political, religious or ideological grounds.”

In the video, created by the Pope’s World Prayer Network with the collaboration of the Jesuit Communications Foundation (JesCom), Pope Leo XVI recites a specially created prayer:

Jesus, Lord of our history,
Faithful companion and living presence,
You who never tire of coming to meet us,
Here we are, in need of Your peace.

We live in times of fear and division.
Sometimes we act as if we were alone,
Building walls that separate us from one another,
Forgetting that we are brothers and sisters.

Send us Your Spirit, Lord,
To rekindle within us
The desire to understand one another, to listen,
To live together with respect and compassion.

Give us the courage to seek paths of dialogue,
To respond to conflict with gestures of fraternity,
To open our hearts to others without fear of differences.

Make us builders of bridges,
Able to overcome borders and ideologies,
Able to see others through the eyes of the heart,
Recognizing in every person an inviolable dignity.

Help us create spaces where hope can flourish,
Where diversity is not a threat
But a richness that makes us more human. Amen.

The images that accompany his words are a journey through the divisions present in the world: wars, clashes, and violence that cause destruction, send people fleeing their land, and cause existential solitude. In the final part, the images change and the subjects are young people. The hope of a better future passes through their ability to build fraternal communities, welcoming each other in their differences, opening their hearts, and putting themselves at the service of others.

Always of hope, Pope Leo spoke to them at the very beginning of the Youth Jubilee on 29 July, arriving in St. Peter’s Square by surprise at the end of the opening Eucharist:

“Jesus tells us, “You are the salt of the earth […]. You are the light of the world” (Mt 5:13-14).

And today your voices, your enthusiasm, your cries –which are all for Jesus Christ – will be heard to the ends of the world. Today you are starting a few days, a journey, the Jubilee of Hope, and the world needs messages of hope; you are this message, and you must continue to give hope to everyone. We hope that all of you will always be signs of hope in the world! (…)

And our cry must also be for world peace. Let us all say, “We want world peace!”