By Johnny Zokovitch At the Pax Christi International 80th gathering in Florence, Italy last week, Bishop Mark Seitz and the Diocese of El Paso were recognized as the recipients of the 2025 Pax Christi International Peace Award, with Annunciation House, Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center, and Hope Border Institute receiving special recognition for their work on the US-Mexico border.

A homecoming – a reunion – a celebration – a meeting of hearts and minds: These are just a few words to describe the incredible experience of participating in the Pax Christi International 80th anniversary convening in Firenze (Florence), Italy, as Pax Christi leaders from around the world celebrated 80 years of being a consistent presence for reconciliation and nonviolence amidst the various and ongoing violent conflicts around the world.

Pax Christi Metro DC-Baltimore member John Holden and Pax Christi USA national council member Frank Panopoulos Earlier this week, as the US Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) met in Baltimore, Pax Christi members joined other Catholics and allies outside the meeting space to demand that Church leaders break their silence on what leading human rights experts have identified as genocide in Gaza.

By Kathy KellyPax Christi USA 1998 Teacher of Peace The most urgent task, to end genocide, requires truthful coverage about Israel’s war crimes. On Saturday, November 8, 2025, Dan Perry wrote in The Jerusalem Post about Israel's projected lifting of the media blockade on Gaza. Perry laments that Israeli censorship has left all reporting of the atrocity in the hands of Palestinians, who refuse to be silent.

On Saturday, December 13, 5-7:00 PM Eastern, Pax Christi USA’s Young Adult Caucus (PCYAC) will hold its annual Advent retreat. Our theme for this year will be "Entering the Night of Peace," from the 2025 Advent Reflection Booklet. We are grateful to have the authors of this year's Advent reflection booklet with us as retreat speakers, Cameron Bellm and Flora x.

By Johnny Zokovitch This week I have been in Florence, Italy as part of Pax Christi International’s 80th anniversary world gathering, Building Bridges for Tomorrow. This is the third world gathering that I have taken part in, and at each, I come away with a deeper appreciation for how we who do our work in the United States have such dedicated and courageous friends and colleagues around the world witnessing – often at great personal cost – to the power of nonviolence.  

The print version of this year's edition of Pax Christi USA's Advent reflection booklet is now available! The hard copy version is $5.00 (with further discounts of 10 percent on orders of 10-99 or 30 percent for 100+). Find it here in the Pax Christi USA Store. The electronic version will be available for sale the week of November 17.

This is a request for urgent action -- please respond today, Monday, November 3. From the US Conference of Catholic Bishops: As world leaders head to COP30 to advance climate action, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing to effectively end its ability to track US climate warming emissions, data needed to reduce climate impacts, meet our international climate commitments and protect children’s health and futures…

We offer this brief video to remember some of the beloved Pax Christi members and friends who have passed away since November 2, 2024 and joined the great cloud of witnesses. Please feel free to ad…

The situation in Sudan is horrific as the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) takes control of Darfur -- widespread starvation, sexual assault, and mass executions are just a few of the atrocities being reported. The Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect writes about El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur: "Entire neighborhoods have been destroyed, hospitals reduced to rubble and humanitarian access completely severed.

By Johnny Zokovitch I spent last weekend with members of Pax Christi Michigan at their annual fall retreat. The theme of this retreat doesn’t change from year to year; it’s always focused on reflection and renewal for the long haul, how to find the sustenance one needs to keep going on, especially when hopes are dashed and momentum is stalled…

Last Wednesday evening, President Trump made an imprecise statement about resuming tests of nuclear weapons. (Use this link to read a BBC article on this topic.) It is unclear whether he meant testing of nuclear warheads or the delivery systems. Any testing would violate the Comprehensive Test Ban treaty and would have negative environmental impacts. It would also overturn United States policy that has been in place since 1992 when Republican George HW Bush was president.

Fr. John Dear and the Beatitudes Center has several upcoming events that will be of interest to Pax Christi members. Use this link to see the list of upcoming episodes of the Nonviolent Jesus podcast, including this Monday's (Nov. 3) with Joan Baez. Fr. John writes that Joan Baez is "a lifelong activist for peace, justice, civil and human rights, and an equally passionate believer in nonviolence.

By Johnny Zokovitch During my college years, one of my professors turned me on to the philosophy of Søren Kierkegaard. What I found so compelling in Kierkegaard was his insistence on the way that faith had been co-opted by culture. Kierkegaard reflected on how, for the early Christian community, their allegiance to their faith could cost them so much for being in conflict with the culture surrounding them — resulting in their loss of livelihood, social and economic isolation, the severing of family bonds, and perhaps even their lives.

Unarmed civilian protection (UCP) is a powerful and effective nonviolent strategy. As described by Nonviolent Peaceforce, "UCP protects civilians from violence through use of a range of methods,including protective accompaniment and protective presence, community-led safety and security initiatives such as early-warning early response mechanisms, civilians protecting one another through Women and Youth Protection Teams, conflict de-escalation techniques, civilian ceasefire and peace agreement monitoring, the establishment of weapons-free zones – and much more."

Archbishop Gabriele Caccia, the Holy See’s Permanent Observer to the United Nations, urges the international community to work towards preventing the ...

Pax Christi USA recently signed on to partner with a new interfaith initiative focused on equipping faith leaders to respond to rising authoritarianism and democratic backsliding through nonviolent civil resistance. The Center on Faith and Justice at Georgetown University, together with Sojourners, the Interfaith Alliance, and the Horizons Project, is launching a national effort to build local and regional interfaith cohorts of clergy, lay, and community leaders committed to moral, faith-rooted, and strategic action.

By Johnny Zokovitch One of the most satisfying decisions I made during my time as executive director of Pax Christi USA was to ask Fr. Joe Nangle, ofm, to write a weekly column for our website. Joe’s columns were consistently the most-read posts on our site week-in and week-out. I heard regularly from people all across the United States (and even around the world) about how much Joe’s columns meant to them.

Pax Christi International, based in Brussels, has awarded its 2025 peace prize to Bishop Mark Seitz of the Diocese of El Paso, Texas, in recognition of his years of work protecting the rights of migrants along the US-Mexico border and beyond. Bishop Seitz has made it clear that the commitment of the Catholic Church in the United States is to defend and protect immigrants, and to highlight the values and contributions that immigrants bring to our country, beginning with their deep faith: “There is a prophetic dimension to this work… Our solidarity must be visible… The way of love cannot be hidden under a bushel basket.

On Friday, October 3, some 50 peacemakers, including members of the Pax Christi USA National Council who were together for their semi-annual meeting that weekend, held a prayer service and vigil in support of immigrants outside of the headquarters of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency in Washington, DC. The prayer service, with the theme "Love Thy Neighbor," was co-sponsored by Pax Christi USA, Pax Christi Metro DC-Baltimore, the Dorothy Day Catholic Worker, Franciscan Action Network, Congregation Action Network, Sisters of Mercy, the Quixote Center and other groups. 

On Sunday, September 28, the weather was warm and the atmosphere was both festive and filled with purpose as crowds of people gathered for the 111th World Day of Migrants and Refugees in the Archdiocese of Washington, DC. This year’s procession possessed a more intense resolve as a prayerful and prophetic witness of Catholics in solidarity with immigrants, migrants and refugees who are being assaulted, disappeared and deported by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

Pax Christi USA is a member of Churches for Middle East Peace (CMEP), a coalition of more than 30 national church communions and organizations, including Catholic, Orthodox, Protestant, and Evangelical traditions that works to encourage US policies that actively promote a comprehensive resolution to conflicts in the Middle East with a focus on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. CMEP published the following statement on Thursday, October 9.

Pax Christi USA is heartbroken to share the news of the death of Ambassador of Peace and former national council member Fr. Chris Ponnet, leader of Pax Christi Southern California. Fr. Chris died during surgery on Tuesday, October 7; he was 68 years old. Fr. Chris during Pax Christi SoCal's September 21 International Day of Peace commemoration “Fr. Chris was the heart and soul of the St.

Starting Tuesday, November 4 at 8 PM ET      Have you ever asked yourself any of these questions: Is the journey worth it?  Is this what God wants me to do? Am I up to it? And, afterwards: How did it affect my life? Jim Thomas, co-chair of the Pax Christi USA Nuclear Disarmament Working Group, posed similar questions to himself more than 40 years ago when contemplating a walk across the United States, Europe, and then to Bethlehem to draw attention to the need for nuclear disarmament.