The Augustinian Recollect solidarity network invites the entire Augustinian Recollect Family to join in a common prayer for peace, in communion with Pope Leo XIV and in view of the grave international situation.
In an international context marked by escalating violence and geopolitical instability, ARCORES International, the social arm of the Order of Augustinian Recollects, has launched an urgent appeal to the entire Augustinian Recollect Family to unite in a common prayer for peace.
The initiative arises in response to alarming data and recent appeals from the international community and the Holy Father. In September 2025, during a Security Council debate, the United Nations noted that 61 active armed conflicts were recorded worldwide in 2024, “the highest number since 1946,” according to data from the Uppsala Conflict Data Program and the Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO).
In harmony with Pope Leo XIV
Last Sunday, March 1, after the Angelus prayer, Pope Leo XIV expressed his deep concern over the situation in the Middle East and Iran, as well as the recent clashes between Pakistan and Afghanistan.
“Stability and peace are not built with mutual threats, nor with weapons, which sow destruction, pain, and death, but only through reasonable, authentic, and responsible dialogue,” the Holy Father stated.
He also made “an earnest appeal” to the parties involved to assume their moral responsibility and stop the spiral of violence before it leads to an irreparable tragedy. “May diplomacy regain its role and the good of the peoples, who long for peaceful coexistence based on justice, be promoted. And let us continue to pray for peace,” he exhorted.
In this horizon of concern and hope, ARCORES International joins the voice of the Pope and invites everyone to intensify prayer as an evangelical path and a concrete commitment to reconciliation.
A call to the entire Augustinian Recollect Family
ARCORES International calls upon friars, nuns, Augustinian Recollect Secular Fraternities, youth from the Augustinian Recollect Youth (ARY), Saint Monica Christian Mothers, and laity linked to Augustinian Recollect spirituality to unite spiritually in a single plea for peace. To this end, a common prayer is offered that can be integrated into both community prayers and personal prayer, thus fostering a real and concrete spiritual communion throughout the Augustinian Recollect Family.
Friar Jaazeal Estelou Jakosalem, OAR, director of ARCORES International and general councilor, addresses this message to the Augustinian Recollect Family regarding the cross that accompanies the prayer—a work of his own authorship:
“The image shows Jesus extending the dove of peace, a moving gesture in an era marked by global conflicts and unrest. In this representation, Jesus weeps for our collective longing for peace. He weeps because humanity is sacrificed on the altar of borders and national security, and he weeps for our repeated failure to speak a language of reconciliation.”
The religious brother notes that, echoing the expression “disarmed peace” used by Pope Leo XIV and his recent call for a “peaceful existence for all peoples,” the work proposes a particularly significant meditation during this Lenten season.
“The work serves as a visceral reminder of a suffering Jesus who stands in solidarity with a world torn apart by violence, urging us to achieve a just and lasting peace,” he explains.
Praying together for a just and lasting peace
Faced with the possibility of a tragedy of enormous proportions in various international settings, ARCORES International reminds us that peace is, above all, a gift from God and a shared task.
The Order of Augustinian Recollects, through its solidarity network, invites the entire Augustinian Recollect Family to raise a confident plea so that dialogue may prevail, the spiral of violence may stop, and a coexistence based on justice and reconciliation may be built.
In communion with the universal Church and the successor of Peter, prayer thus becomes a concrete gesture of hope and commitment to a “disarmed peace,” capable of healing the wounds between peoples and opening paths of fraternity.
