Pope Leo XIV wrote this month that looking into the eyes of children caught in war may be the only thing capable of converting the adults who allow it.
In a March 23 letter to Popotus, an Italian children's weekly supplement of Avvenire — the newspaper of the Italian Bishops' Conference — Pope Leo marked the publication’s 30th anniversary with a call for everyone to preserve a "childlike outlook on reality" in order to "remain human."
The Holy Father said he wanted to use the anniversary as an occasion to speak directly to children — and through them, to the parents and teachers who read the news alongside them, engaging both the stories that inspire and the ones that warn against repeating past mistakes.
Addressing the suffering of children living in war zones “these days of great concern over the wars threatening the future of humanity,” the Pope wrote that adults have something to learn from the very children living through them.
"Perhaps only by looking into the bewildered eyes of children faced with the barbarity of war can we convert,” the Pope said.
He wrote about “relearning to look each other in the eye and to look at the world with pure eyes” as children do.
"Dear children, give us your gaze and restore to adults the beauty of the world," he wrote. "I want to say that restoring the world's beauty is possible, and that you can help adults see it.”
He named the qualities worth holding onto from childhood: "trust in those who love you, the universal language of love, the disarming power of a smile, the courage to apologize, the beauty of making peace."
Pope Leo called on everyone — not just children — to preserve a "childlike perspective on reality" in order to "remain human." He grounded the call in Scripture, citing Jesus' words to His disciples: "Unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” These words, Pope Leo said, apply "today too." Being childlike, Pope Leo wrote, "isn't about going back, but about holding a key to seeing the essence of everything, to finding surprising answers even to the most difficult questions."
He then turned to address parents and teachers directly, thanking them for the care and love shown to them in raising them. Each child's uniqueness, he added, is "a gift from God."
He wrote, "You are witnesses to how children educate us as we educate them, and how we must protect them from an inhumane understanding of information and education."
That protection, he wrote, extends to AI.
"We must not allow children to end up believing that they can find their best friends or the oracle of all knowledge in AI chatbots, thus dulling their intellect and interpersonal skills, and dulling their creativity and their thoughts."
He urged, "We must protect their childhood and guide their growth so that they can be protagonists of a renewed world.”