Pope Leo XIV has chosen the words of the prophet Isaiah – “They shall beat their swords into ploughshares and their spears into pruning hooks” (Is 2:4) – as the theme for the 2026 World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation, to be observed on September 1. The Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development announced the theme on June 2, noting that the Holy Father’s forthcoming message will draw a direct link between armed conflict and environmental harm.
The annual observance, instituted for the universal Church by Pope Francis in 2015, builds on an earlier Orthodox tradition dating to 1989 and, more anciently, the Byzantine liturgical feast of the Indiction on September 1. It opens the Season of Creation, which runs until the feast of St Francis of Assisi on October 4.
