The Jubilee journey of Consecrated Life reached its final day, as participants gathered around the second main theme of the event: Peace. After reflecting on Hope the previous day, consecrated men and women met in the Paul VI Hall to face the most urgent challenge of our time: how to become peacemakers in a world torn apart by conflict.

The day opened with the Eucharistic celebration presided over by Cardinal Ángel F. Artime, Pro-Prefect of the Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life. In his homily, the Cardinal urged consecrated persons to be “prophets of hope” and “bearers of living water,” emphasizing that the true fruitfulness of consecrated life springs from listening to and safeguarding the Word of God, following the example of Mary. Recalling Saint John XXIII on the anniversary of the opening of the Second Vatican Council, he invited all to listen to the Spirit with simplicity and courage, to preserve goodness as a universal language, and to remain both free and obedient.

The morning continued with a reflection on peace by Sr. Teresa Maya, CCVI, former president of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR), enriched by moments of song, dance, and video. Sr. Teresa encouraged consecrated (wo)men to become active builders of peace, “shalom”, through genuine encounters with reality, especially with the poor and the marginalized, following the example of Saint Francis of Assisi. She reminded them that peace is not the absence of conflict but a spiritual gift requiring ongoing reconciliation, historical memory, and spirituality able to acknowledge one’s own fragility. In polarized societies, consecrated persons are called to create ecosystems of peace through intercultural and interreligious networks, she said. They should transform their communities into laboratories of nonviolence that testify to the possibility of a different world according to the vision of God’s Kingdom.

The afternoon session began in the Paul VI Hall with a workshop on mediation and conflict management techniques, led by Fr. David McCallum, SJ, director of the Discerning Leadership Program and member of the Synod’s Methodological Commission.
This workshop offered valuable time for sharing and hands-on learning, enhancing the capacity to build peace within communities and local contexts. Participants were invited to broaden their repertoire of conflict management styles, foster a culture of listening, and acquire skills to transform difficult conversations.

Approximately 4,000 consecrated men and women from all over the world concluded their Jubilee at the Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls, renewing their profession of faith by proclaiming the Creed from the five continents with symbolic gestures, and renewing their “yes” to consecration as “pilgrims of hope on the path of peace.” Sr. Simona Brambilla, Prefect of the Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, pointed to Mary as a model for consecrated life: “A Consecrated Life marked by Mary becomes a space for profound reinterpretation of history, a prophetic gaze at reality embodied by ‘women and men of the Beatitudes who, even amid tribulation, already see the invisible.’ It becomes a place of dialogue and encounter, a bridge over which diverse experiences and wisdoms can pass and exchange gifts; a safe and respectful environment where relationships of true reciprocity can be born and grow.”

In the final message, the consecrated committed themselves to being a presence of listening and care in the world’s most difficult places, promising to continue building peace starting from the poorest and the most invisible.
With renewed hope and refined tools of peace, the participants left Rome ready to carry this “fruitful harmony in diversity” into the world. Sr. Simona Brambilla concluded with these words: “So, let us go, brothers and sisters! Let us go, pilgrims of hope, on the path of peace, carrying within us the experience we have lived, to keep it in our hearts and to share it with those we meet!”