Church can teach what's at stake when nations choose war, not peace, cardinal says

CASTEL GANDOLFO (CNS) -- In a fractured world threatened by war, Christians can strengthen their bonds of unity to show the world that peace is possible, Cardinal Blase J. Cupich of Chicago said.

Leaders in the Catholic Church also "need to make sure people understand what's at stake when we opt for war and the consequences that result," he told Catholic News Service March 2.

"I think that church leaders need to pastor our people, giving them a voice about what are the principles from a moral dimension when it comes to pursuing peace, and what should be kept into consideration as we see conflicts in some way trying to be resolved by acts of war, wars that seem to be a choice rather than something that is a matter of necessity," he said.

Cardinal Cupich spoke to CNS during a special visit to the papal farm and the Borgo Laudato Si' center in the papal gardens in Castel Gandolfo. He was taking part in an ecumenical pilgrimage together with Metropolitan Nathanael, who presides over the Greek Orthodox Metropolis of Chicago, to celebrate the 1,700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea. 

The two Christian leaders traveled from the Windy City to Istanbul to meet with Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople and then on to Rome to visit key Christian sites and to meet with Pope Leo XIV. 

"There'll be three people from Chicago: the pope, Cardinal Cupich and myself," Metropolitan Nathanael told CNS. "We will have a lot to talk about when we meet," though he was unsure about admitting to the pope -- a White Sox fan -- that he is a Yankees fan.

Before meeting the pope March 4, Cardinal Cupich and the metropolitan spent half a day March 2 at the papal gardens and the Borgo Laudato Si' zero-environmental-impact complex devoted to promoting Pope Francis' teachings on caring for creation.

The trip offers an opportunity "to strengthen the bonds of unity between our churches," especially at a time when the world seems to be so fractured by war and conflict, and "to announce to the world that peace is something we should all embrace," Cardinal Cupich said.

"It's an opportunity for us as well to double down on the importance of working together so that humanity can all flourish in a world in which there is peace," he said, adding that coming together at the Vatican-run center dedicated to promoting integral ecology, sustainability and a circular and generative economy was a good place to emphasize that call. 

At Borgo Laudato Si', he said, "we see firsthand how we are one with all of God's creation, and that we live on this tiny speck of cosmic dust called Earth, in which we all are responsible for making sure it is a place that's a home, a common home for all of us."

Metropolitan Nathanael said, "Looking around the beauty of the grounds, we see what can occur when there's synergy, not only between God and human beings, but amongst human beings."

The Greek Orthodox leader, who is based in Chicago, presides over 58 parishes and two monastic communities in six U.S. states.

"I want to encourage all of our people -- Catholic, Orthodox and even nonbelievers -- to do all they can to find common ground among ourselves as children of God, to love God with all our heart and all our mind and all our soul, and to also love our neighbor," he said. "It's important for us to not just coexist, but to find ways to come closer to God and to one another."

Born in Thessaloniki, Greece, the metropolitan said he felt at home during a tour of the papal farm and saw the donkeys -- which provide milk to pediatric patients -- and four horses leisurely munching on a hill of clover. 

While one chestnut horse happily bonded with the metropolitan, the purebred white Arabian horse named "Proton" skittishly avoided his orbit.

Cardinal Cupich and Metropolitan Nathanael also brought freshly-cut flowers grown at the papal farm with them to leave and pray at the tomb of Pope Francis in Rome's Basilica of St. Mary Major.

Pope Leo visited and inaugurated the center in Castel Gandolfo Sept. 5, 2025. U.S. Father Manuel Dorantes, a Chicago priest, has been the administrative-management director of the Laudato Si' Center for Higher Education since Dec. 1, 2024, when Pope Francis appointed him to a four-year term.