By Most. Rev. Gerardo A. Alminaza, D.D
President, Caritas Philippines
As we begin a new year, Caritas Philippines joins the Holy Father, Pope Leo XIV, in proclaiming the Easter greeting of the Risen Christ: “Peace be with you.” This greeting is not a formality nor a distant hope. It is an invitation and a challenge — calling us to choose what kind of nation we will be in the year ahead.
The peace Christ offers is not sustained by fear, force, or weapons. It is unarmed and disarming, humble and persevering. It is peace that takes flesh in the lives of the poor, the wounded, and those pushed to the margins of society. It is a peace that must be lived, protected, and chosen — together.
In the Philippine context, the call to peace cannot be separated from the daily realities faced by many of our people. Peace remains fragile when livelihoods are denied.
When ancestral lands are threatened.
When human dignity is violated.
When the poor are treated as expendable.
For countless Filipino families burdened by poverty, violence, displacement, and insecurity, peace is not an abstract ideal. It is the difference between fear and hope, between exclusion and belonging. As the Holy Father reminds us, peace is a presence and a journey — one that must be patiently built and faithfully sustained.
The peace of Christ challenges the logic that equates security with militarization and justice with force. In communities affected by armed conflict, political violence, red-tagging, and the criminalization of dissent, we affirm that lasting peace cannot grow from fear or domination. Where violence is normalized — whether through weapons or through policies that silence the poor — peace is diminished. True peace is built through justice, dialogue, and the patient work of restoring relationships, especially with those long excluded and forgotten.
Peace in our country is also inseparable from the cry of the earth. Ecological destruction has become a silent but persistent form of violence against the poor. When Indigenous communities are displaced from ancestral lands, when farms and watersheds are damaged, when fisherfolk return home with empty nets because seas have been altered and shorelines eroded — peace is broken long before a gun is fired. These realities deepen inequality and sow conflict, especially where communities are excluded from decisions that shape their land, sea, and future.
Climate-related disasters further expose the injustice that undercuts peace. Stronger typhoons, prolonged droughts, floods, and rising seas continue to devastate communities that have contributed least to the climate crisis. Families are forced to evacuate year after year, farmers who lose their harvests, and poor urban communities living in danger zones endure a form of violence that is slow, structural, and deeply unjust. As Pope Leo XIV reminds us, peace resists violence in all its forms — including those that quietly strip people of land, food, water, and hope.
Ecological justice, therefore, is not optional. It is essential to a just and lasting peace. An economy that prioritizes extraction, profit, and short-term gain over life breeds fear, displacement, and division. Caring for creation is an act of peacemaking. Protecting forests, seas, rivers, and ancestral lands is inseparable from defending human dignity. Development that disarms greed and respects the limits of creation opens pathways to reconciliation — among peoples and with the earth we share.
We are deeply concerned that the language of “development,” “order,” and “security” is too often used to justify environmental harm, silence community voices, and normalize suffering. As the Holy Father warns, when peace is treated as distant or unrealistic, aggression seeps into public life and injustice becomes acceptable. This must not be the path we choose as a nation.
At the beginning of this new year, Caritas Philippines calls on Church communities, civil society, and public authorities to resist the temptation of violence and despair.
We urge a renewed commitment to nonviolence, ecological responsibility, restorative justice, and dialogue — especially in addressing armed conflict, environmental destruction, and widening social inequalities. We call for the protection of children, Indigenous peoples, farmers, fisherfolk, and urban poor communities whose lives are most vulnerable to the combined impacts of conflict, climate change, and unjust development.
Inspired by the Jubilee of Hope, we affirm that peace begins with the disarmament of the heart and is sustained by solidarity. As a Church that walks with the poor, we commit ourselves to being communities of peace—where justice is practiced, creation is respected, dignity is upheld, and hope is kept alive.
As we step into this new year, and inspired by the prophet Isaiah, we choose to walk in the light of the Lord, trusting that even amid darkness, peace remains near — waiting to be welcomed, embodied, and shared.