Pope Leo XIV promised on Saturday that the Holy See will not be a mere spectator to global affairs, especially regarding inequality, injustice, and questions of basic human rights.

“[The Holy See will not be a silent bystander to the grave disparities, injustices and fundamental human rights violations in our human and global community, which is increasingly more fractured and conflict-prone.” Leo said.

The pope’s remarks came during an audience with ambassadors to the Holy See from Bahrain, Fiji, Finland, Latvia, Lesotho, Liberia, Micronesia, Moldova, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Uzbekistan, who presented the pontiff with their Letters of Credence in the CLementine Hall of the Apostolic Palace in the Vatican on Saturday morning.

“[T]he Holy See’s diplomacy,” said the pontiff, “is consistently directed toward serving the good of humanity, especially by appealing to consciences and by remaining attentive to the voices of those who are poor, in vulnerable situations or pushed to the margins of society.”

The diplomatic efforts of the Holy See are “shaped by the values of the Gospel,” Leo said, and in particular by the desire for peace.

“Peace,” said the pope, recalling the very first words he spoke to the world as Leo XIV on the day of his election and his May 16, 2025 remarks to the whole corps of diplomats accredited to the Holy See, “is not merely the absence of conflict, but ‘an active and demanding gift,’ one that is ‘built in the heart and from the heart’.”

“[Peace] calls each of us to renounce pride and vindictiveness and to resist the temptation to use words as weapons,” Leo said.

“This vision of peace has become all the more urgent,” Leo said, “as geopolitical tension and fragmentation continue to deepen in ways that burden nations and that strain the bonds of the human family.”

Leo expressed gladness at the chance to meet the new ambassadors in what are still the early days of his pontificate, and in the context of the Jubilee Year of Hope inaugurated by his predecessor, Pope Francis.

Leo quoted Francis’ Bull of Indiction for the Ordinary Jubilee Year 2025, Spes non confundit – “Hope does not disappoint” – emphasizing the need to recover trust in our common institutions and in each other.

Leo said the Jubilee “calls everyone ‘to recover the confident trust that we require, in the Church and in society, in our interpersonal relationships, in international relations, and in our task of promoting the dignity of all persons and respect for God’s gift of creation’.”