In 1983 one million Italians took part in the largest peace rally in the history of Italy. The protest was against the stationing of American Pershing II missiles at the airbase in Comiso in Sicily.
A photo has appeared in a Berliner Zeitung article Aug. 16, from the archive of the Catholic peace movement Pax Christi. In the photo is seen the Chicago-born Robert Prevost, now Pope Leo XIV. Prevost was studying Canon Law at the time. Another priest in the picture was the Augustinian priest Giuseppe Pagano, today Prior of Santo Spirito in Florence. A poster in the picture contained the slogan “Augustinians for peace.”
The Pershing-II rockets could reach the Soviet Union in five to eight minutes. 108 Pershing II missiles were stationed in Germany along with 368 low flying cruise missiles.
“Peace built on the foundation of scenarios of nuclear annihilation is not peace, but a temporary ceasefire. We need a peace that is unarmed and disarming” said Leo this year at the World Day of Peace, Jan. 1, 2026.
