As a member of the advisory council of Pax Christi’s Non-Violence Institute, I attended the final day of the Pax Christi International World Gathering, held in Florence on November 8, 2025. The event brought together peacebuilders from around the world to reflect on how the Gospel of nonviolence can guide us through today’s conflicts and divisions.
A highlight of the gathering was the presentation of the 2025 Pax Christi Peace Award to the Most Reverend Mark J. SEITZ, Bishop of El Paso, Texas, USA. The award recognized his tireless advocacy for migrants and his consistent witness to Gospel nonviolence along the U.S.– Mexico border. Because Bishop SEITZ was unable to attend in person, the award was accepted on his behalf by his auxiliary, Bishop Anthony C. CELINO.
In addition to Bishop SEITZ, Pax Christi gave special recognition to Annunciation House, the Hope Border Institute, and the Las Américas Immigrant Advocacy Center. These organizations serve daily on the front lines of migrant care and human dignity in the El Paso/Ciudad Juárez (Mexico) region. When Bishop SEITZ and his auxiliary, Bishop CELINO, joined representatives from these groups at a private audience with Pope Leo XIV on October 8, 2025, the pope told them: “The Church cannot remain silent before injustice. You stand with me, and I stand with you.” The Pope acknowledged the fear and suffering of displaced families and urged the U.S. bishops to speak with greater unity in defense of migrants.
For us Franciscans, these names and places are not distant. They are part of our shared story of accompanying others. Friar Jarek WYSOCZANSKI, OFM Conv., serves full-time as a volunteer at Annunciation House, living the Franciscan mission of presence and compassion among migrants and asylum seekers. On August 9, 2025, he joined Battalion Search and Rescue, the Encuentro Project, the Maryknoll Missionaries, and the Sisters of St. Vincent de Paul to celebrate Mass in the desert near Santa Teresa, New Mexico, USA, just miles from El Paso.
There, they prayed for the hundreds of anonymous migrants who die each year along the border, many of them women, and for the families who may never know where their loved ones fell. Friar Jarek’s ministry and the ministries of the others recognized by Pax Christi embody the heart of our Franciscan vocation: to be instruments of peace, to remember the forgotten, and to see in every migrant’s face the image of Christ.
The gathering in Florence came to a close with the participants feeling gratitude and resolve. The stories of courage in the desert and solidarity at the border, remind us that peace begins wherever compassion takes root.
Friar Michael LASKY
