The Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development has announced the theme chosen by Pope Francis for the 2025 World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation, held annually on Sept. 1: “Seeds of Peace and Hope.”

The day is part of the Season of Creation, an ecumenical initiative that takes place Sept. 1 to Oct. 4. This 2025 edition takes on a special character as it coincides with the Jubilee Year of Hope and the 10th anniversary of the encyclical Laudato Si’, the Holy Father’s magisterial text on the care of our common home.

According to a Vatican statement, this year’s theme reflects the urgency of working “to create the conditions for peace, a lasting peace built together that inspires hope.”

“The metaphor of the seed indicates the need for long-term commitment,” the fruit of concrete actions and a profound ecological conversion, according to the statement.

The biblical reference text chosen for this edition is Isaiah 32:14-18, which directly links justice, peace, and harmony with creation: “Then justice will dwell in the wilderness, and righteousness abide in the fruitful field. … My people will abide in a peaceful habitation, in secure dwellings, and in quiet resting places.”

The statement also emphasizes that, as Pope Francis and his predecessors have emphasized, “there is a close link between peace and care for creation.”

In fact, it quotes the messages for the World Day of Peace in 1990 and 2010, from St. John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI, respectively, which warned of the destructive consequences of war on nature.

“The connection between war and violence, on the one hand, and the degradation of the common home and the waste of resources (destruction and armaments), on the other, is very close,” the press release reads.