Pope Leo Asks, “Quo Vadis, Humanitas?” (Where are you going, Humanity?)

Only a rigorous answer to the question, “what makes us human?” can provide a solid groundwork for the new international security and development architecture. If there is no agreement on the universal nature of humanity, then there can be no efficient inner content, rising above differences in culture, religion, or ethnicity, to a permanent, practiced doctrine of peace. Above: Benozzo Gozzoli’s Journey of the Magi (detail) (1459–1461)

Nov. 12, 2026 (EIRNS)—While Russia stated, regarding the Nov. 12 meeting between Steve Witkoff, Jared Kushner and President Vladimir Putin, in the words of Putin aide Yuri Ushakov, that “The President of Russia has once again supported the American side’s proposal to move towards resolving security issues for both Russia and Ukraine as part of efforts to shape a future post-conflict system of European security,” Russia also made clear to the American representatives their evaluation that Europe is not and cannot be trusted. At the same time, Putin proposed a joint Ukrainian-Russian humanitarian operation to remove as many as 500 civilians from the town of Konstantinovka, in the Donetsk oblast, like that successfully carried out in Oleshky.

The resolution of the depopulation wars in Ukraine and Gaza, the war with Iran, and most, if not all, of the other scores of conflicts in the world today, requires that sort of thinking. Leaders must proceed from a higher conception of humanity, to arrive at a higher conception of world strategy. Pope Leo XIV, who said in his October 27 Assisi speech that “there is no such thing as a holy war; only peace is holy,” is catalyzing, in the minds of masses of people, whether in Angola, Cameroon, Algeria, Spain, France, or now in South America, a higher ideal of humanity. By this means, through this higher idea, they can fight for a world without war, using the conceptual tools supplied in documents like his encyclical Magnifica Humanitas, and like the Ten Principles for a New Security and Development Architecture proposed by Helga Zepp-LaRouche.

The Nov. 6-17 Papal mission to the nations of Uruguay, Argentina and Peru, South America, conducted by Pope Leo XIV in the aftermath of his medical procedure for cancer, brought 3 million people into the streets of Lima, Peru on Thursday. In Argentina, over Nov. 8-11, the Pope’s intense schedule, consisting of large and small events—from addresses in prisons and meetings with labor representatives, to massive, open-air masses and public gatherings—resulted in his addressing between 6 and 8 million people. Argentinians beaten down by grinding poverty and unemployment (32.3% in the cities) enthusiastically assembled to see and “meet” Leo, seen as the successor to Pope Francis, the first Pope from South America in the Church’s 2000-year history. Leo, his successor, is the first Pope from North America, and a citizen of the United States (as well as Peru.)

The social justice doctrine of the Church as expressed in Leo’s encyclical Magnifica Humanitas, whose full title is “On Safeguarding The Human Person In The Time of Artificial Intelligence,” is embodied in Leo’s Socratic, personal dialogue with the people he is encountering in the streets of the world, Christian and non-Christian, on the question of “what makes us human.” Simultaneously, he is addressing the big picture: “The wars and tensions that afflict so many peoples call for patient diplomacy—diplomacy that keeps dialogue open, respects international law, and seeks agreements that protect the lives and dignity of people. Every nation has legitimate aspirations, but none can regard the fate of others as extraneous to its own concern,” he told Peruvian government officials.

Only a rigorous answer to the question, “what makes us human?” can provide a solid groundwork for the new international security and development architecture. If there is no agreement on the universal nature of humanity—as for example, there is not, as we see, in the case of the “ethnic cleansing” carried out against the Palestinians of Gaza and the West Bank—then there can be no efficient inner content, rising above differences in culture, religion, or ethnicity, to a permanent, practiced doctrine of peace. And if there is not an acknowledgement that we are, in fact, all one humanity, then, especially in this thermonuclear age, and the rise of what Leo calls “a paradise of machines,” there will soon be no humanity at all.

As we approach the November 18-19 APEC summit, and the expected meeting of Presidents Trump, Putin and Xi Jinping, there will be desperate attempts to prevent any possibility of a new security and development architecture from being discussed among the three Presidents. It is imperative that through the International Peace Coalition, and vehicles such as the Presidential campaign of LaRouche Independent Diane Sare, as many people be brought into that “world presidents discussion” as possible. Anomalies in global events, such as the peculiar timing of the eruption of the “Nvidia spy sex scandal,” should not distract our attention from the urgent need to concentrate on the big picture—humanity as a whole. The question before us is, “Quo Vadis, Humanitas?” It is all of our responsibility to answer.