VATICAN CITY (RNS) — Nobel laureates and other thought leaders, scientists and celebrities will come together this weekend (Sept. 12 to 13) for the World Meeting on Human Fraternity, a Vatican-sponsored event that included roundtable discussions on issues that are at the heart of global strife and will determine humanity’s future.
“The world is currently marked by conflicts and divisions, which makes it all the more important that you are united by a strong and courageous ‘no’ to war and a ‘yes’ to peace and fraternity,” said Pope Leo XIV Friday in a meeting with participants of the event.
Leo questioned the world’s concern with the “business of wars,” which target innocent people and destroy cities and devastates the environment. He encouraged the audience members to see migrants “who are despised, imprisoned and rejected” as brothers and sisters and to help the poor, who are often discarded in a society “that values profit more than people.” He also challenged modern, hyperconnected societies that allow loneliness to prevail.
“We need an extensive ‘covenant of humanity,’ founded not on power but on care; not on profit but on gift; not on suspicion but on trust,” the pontiff said.
The event is the third in an annual series of gatherings inspired by Pope Fra …