Praying for Peace on the Feast of the Assumption - Roberto de Mattei

Holy Assumption of the Virgin Mary Orthodox Church National Historic Landmark
Kenai, Alaska, 1894

On August 15, 2025, the Feast of the Assumption, a historic summit will take place in Alaska between US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

This will be their first meeting since Trump returned to the White House and since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022. It is not yet known how Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will be involved in the negotiations, but it is certain that the shadow of Chinese President Xi Jinping looms over Trump and Putin.

The game is therefore being played between at least four players, with Europe on the sidelines. Ukraine cannot resist Russian military power without American support, but on the other hand, Trump cannot end the conflict without the consent of a people, such as the Ukrainians, who have shown that they are not willing to bow to unjust aggression. The relationship between Putin and Xi Jinping is the opposite of that between Trump and Zelensky. Russia is in fact a vassal state of China, but the world is unaware of the Chinese president's real plans on the Western front, and it will be difficult for Putin to negotiate peace in Ukraine without his consent. Apparently, Trump's leadership, as he approaches the November 2026 midterm elections, is more uncertain than Putin's, but the most informed political analysts argue that Putin's power is faltering within his own country. However, the reasons for the precariousness of the two leaders are not only political, domestic, or international.  

Peace is a gift that, like every good thing, comes from God, the supreme good and source of all that is true, good, and just in the world. To obtain this gift, it is necessary to respect the natural order and observe the Law of Christ, preserved by the Catholic Church. All the evils of the earth, on the other hand, come from men, who can destroy themselves, but are incapable of building anything good without the help of divine grace. In this respect, Trump and Putin's ability to ensure true and lasting peace in the world is nil, while the destructive force at their disposal is enormous and real. 

According to the most reputable international research institutes, there are currently around 12,500 strategic nuclear warheads in the world, 90% of which are owned by Moscow and Washington, although other countries, including China, India, Pakistan, North Korea, France, the United Kingdom, and Israel, also possess lethal nuclear weapons to varying degrees.  

On July 31, Russian President Putin threatened Ukraine and the West with the deployment in Belarus of his latest hypersonic missiles, “Oreshnik,” which are almost impossible to intercept and capable of unleashing a rain of bombs—nuclear or conventional—on all European capitals in a matter of minutes. On the same day, Dmitry Medvedev, Deputy Chairman of the Security Council of the Russian Federation, menacingly evoked the use of “Perimeter” (“Dead Hand”), an automatic command system capable of ordering the launch of all available nuclear forces against pre-programmed targets. 

Based on these statements, Trump announced that he had ordered the deployment of two American nuclear submarines “in appropriate regions” near Russia. “Words are very important and can often lead to unintended consequences,” said Trump, who is certainly not known for his restraint in language, but who emphasized an important principle: a phrase can be as powerful as an action, because it can trigger unpredictable reactions capable of igniting an international political crisis.

Will the summit between the two world leaders in Alaska, and the subsequent one scheduled to take place in Russia, avert this possibility? Will they ensure world peace or exacerbate international tensions? Never before has the world situation seemed so close to planetary catastrophe, which, by the mere fact of being considered possible, marks the definitive collapse of the utopia of progress. In 1792, Immanuel Kant, in his essay Whether Mankind is in Constant Progress Toward the Better, ruled out a priori the possibility of humanity's decline or regression, precisely because this would have entailed the possibility of self-annihilation, which was then considered unthinkable. The hypothesis excluded by the German philosopher is now real and constitutes the outcome of a centuries-long revolutionary process, which is in its essence self-destructive, because its essence is the negation of the divine order of created things. But the Revolution cannot totally destroy existing reality because, as St. Thomas Aquinas explains, just as only God can create and preserve, only God can annihilate what He has created (Summa Theologiae, I, q. I04, a. 3.). If no one can replace divine causality in the work of creation, God cannot be replaced even in the work of annihilation.

The mighty of this world, envied, admired, or feared by many, with the riches and armies at their disposal, are nothing in the eyes of God, because everything we are and can do, we have received from the goodness of God, the Almighty, who drew everything from the depths of darkness and the abyss of non-being. If God were to withdraw even for a moment the support He gives to His creatures, they would fall into nothingness and perish instantly, like a passing shadow. The powerful of the earth will fall suddenly and be reduced to nothing, but his kingdom will last forever and all his enemies will be placed under his feet (Dan 2:44; Lk 1:52-53). 

God wanted to entrust the exercise of his power on earth to the only creature who fully reflects his infinite perfections, the Blessed Virgin Mary. He did so by crowning her, on the day of the Assumption, Queen of Heaven and earth, as depicted in the famous painting by Beato Angelico in the Louvre Museum and in many other expressions of Christian art. A mere blink of her eye is enough to disrupt the plans of the Revolution, and those who fight for her, the Angels in Heaven and men on earth, will finally fulfill her promise: the triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary.  (Roberto de Mattei)