‘Only Mercy Can Bring Peace’

March 1, 2026

A conversation with Cardinal Konrad Krajewski, papal almoner, about the mission of charity at the heart of the Church

By Columbia staff

March 1, 2026

Good Samaritan.jpg — The parable of the good Samaritan is depicted in a stained-glass window at Good Samaritan Hospital Medical Center in West Islip, N.Y. (CNS photo/Gregory A. Shemitz)

“Almsgiving is the wing of prayer,” said St. John Chrysostom, the fourth-century bishop and doctor of the Church. “If you do not provide your prayer with wings, it will hardly fly.” More than 1,600 years later, in his inaugural apostolic exhortation Dilexi Te (I Have Loved You), Pope Leo XIV affirmed that “almsgiving remains … a necessary means of contact, encounter and empathy with those less fortunate.”

The ancient practice of giving alms — offering material aid to those in need — is rooted in the Gospels, and acts of charity have been carried out in the pope’s name since the earliest days of the Church. A dedicated role in the papal household — the almoner of His Holiness — was established for this purpose in the 13th century.

Cardinal Konrad Krajewski, a priest of the Diocese of Łódź, Poland, has served as papal almoner since 2013, after previously acting as a papal master of ceremonies under Pope Benedict XVI and Pope John Paul II. He has also led the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Service of Charity since it was established in 2022, continuing to carry out works of mercy and raise funds for charitable aid on the pope’s behalf.

Following the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Cardinal Krajewski made several trips to the war-ravaged country as a representative of Pope Francis. Accompanied by local clergy, Knights of Columbus and other partners, he personally delivered ambulances, generators, industrial-scale cooking equipment and other humanitarian aid to communities near the front lines.

He recently spoke with Columbia about the work of the dicastery in Rome and Ukraine, the role of charity in the Christian life, and the prospects for peace in Ukraine, the Holy Land and throughout the world. This interview, originally conducted in Polish, has been edited for length and clarity.

COLUMBIA: You have served under four popes — two of them as papal almoner. How has the office evolved in recent years?

CARDINAL KRAJEWSKI: The almoner is an institution that has been present in the Church from the very beginning. During our first meeting, Pope Francis reminded me that the first almoner was Judas, because he held the Apostles’ money bag. Everyone thought that Judas went to give money to the poor after he left the Last Supper. However, he went to sell the Lord Jesus. The Holy Father emphasized, “Remember that money can be used excellently, and help many, but it can also cause harm — just as it harmed Judas.”

Pope Francis said that I was to be his representative among the poor. Hence, his first instruction was that I was to sell my desk and go out of the Vatican. I was to be among the poor — to eat with them and, if necessary, sleep among them. Why? To know what they really need, so that solutions would not be created from behind a desk — which might be very good in theory, but would have nothing to do with reality. When one has lived with them, then one knows what they need and how to help them.

COLUMBIA: How can Catholics balance the evangelical witness you describe with the practical measures necessary to put faith into action?

CARDINAL KRAJEWSKI: I think one must use the logic of the Gospel. Jesus would go out in the morning — we don’t even know where he slept, where his home was — and he would walk the streets, meeting people.

He helped those he met, and he helped immediately. In the Gospel, he says: “Come down from the tree, today I am coming to you for a meal” (cf. Lk 19:5). When he met lepers, he healed them at once. He never delayed; he never said, “Please come back in two weeks, and we will talk.”

I think the last need in the Church is money, because if these are works of God, the money will be found. We do not go alone. As Catholics, we go with Jesus; we go to represent him. If we follow the logic of the Gospel, there will never be a lack of means to carry it out. One must trust God.

If we are bound to the Gospel and represent God through our way of thinking, through our way of acting, and in how we address the poor, then everything else simply falls into place.

Life consists of small gestures that seem trivial but restore dignity and hope. Mother Teresa used to say that every drop of water is important, because the sea is made of drops. We don’t have to look for great works right away — we should start with small ones. From these small ones, great works will be accomplished.

COLUMBIA: Your episcopal motto is Misericordia (“Mercy”). What, in essence, is this mercy in the daily practice of the Dicastery for the Service of Charity?

CARDINAL KRAJEWSKI: God’s second name is mercy — mercy that surpasses justice. This is our way of acting. The very word “mercy,” which is also linked to almsgiving, tells us that God does not tire of our sins — he always forgives us, helps us up, and says, “Be beautiful; start anew.”

Cardinal Konrad Krajewski greets a Ukrainian woman and child during a humanitarian visit in March 2022. Accompanying him are Archbishop Mieczysław Mokrzycki of Lviv and Yuriy Maletskiy, then-state deputy of Ukraine. (Photo by Tamino Petelinsek)

Just as God loves me and acts toward me, so I am to act toward others — not forgiving once or twice, not seven times, but 77 times — without limit. This is mercy. And the same applies to helping others: not just once, not as a one-time gesture, but every time they are in need.

This is exactly what the Knights of Columbus does — in Ukraine, the Gaza Strip and other corners of the world. Imitating Christ, Knights rush to help with love, in ways that restore dignity to those they serve.

Our latest collaboration with the Knights was in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, where the Albertine Brothers reported that the oven they used to bake bread — about a thousand loaves a day for people in need — was breaking down.

As quickly as possible, we bought a new oven. And the Knights of Columbus immediately joined the effort, providing a flour mixer and other equipment needed to bake bread in large quantities.

This is a beautiful thing — that we complement each other in doing good. What the Knights of Columbus do, together with various foundations working on the ground, is deeply effective and restores hope to people.

COLUMBIA: What does the dicastery’s choice of where to provide assistance tell us about its strategy of charity? What should guide our discernment about where support is needed?

CARDINAL KRAJEWSKI: Jesus primarily sent out fishermen — people who had the courage to set sail in search of fish. We too, aware of the current needs, must go out and seek opportunities to help.

Pope Francis once told me, during a spell of cold weather, to load a car with a hundred sleeping bags and drive around Rome to find people who needed them. That wasn’t easy, because when it’s cold and raining, everyone takes shelter. Sometimes you have to go into the metro, even into the sewers, to find people in order to help them. That’s exactly what Jesus did: From morning to evening, he went looking for people in need.

If we want to follow the logic of the Gospel, we have to go out and find others. For the past 13 years, my mission as almoner has been to stay close to the poor in order to know how to help them.

For example, our homeless will never escape homelessness if they don’t have documents — no one will hire them. They can’t return to their home countries, because they can’t board a plane without documents. They can’t even buy an international train ticket.

And if someone needs eyeglasses or is missing teeth, no one will hire him. It might seem like giving someone a loaf of bread is enough — but it’s not. You have to be very close to these people in order to help effectively.

COLUMBIA: In September, Knights of Columbus leaders joined representatives of the Catholic Near East Welfare Association – Pontifical Mission (CNEWA) in a visit of solidarity with Christians in the Holy Land. Are you hopeful about peace in the Holy Land and in Ukraine?

CARDINAL KRAJEWSKI: Peace is certainly possible — but mercy is essential. If we don’t forgive each other, there will never be peace. There is a lot of suffering and death on all sides, and naturally, it gives rise to a desire for revenge. But the only path to healing is forgiveness. Without it, peace will never come.

It was the same after World War II. The 1965 “Letter of Reconciliation of the Polish Bishops to the German Bishops” declared, “We forgive and ask for forgiveness.” Without that step, we would never have been able to live normally — because we would constantly hold resentment.

According to justice, we would have to pay back in kind. But mercy — which is a kind of scandal — calls us to forgive, even when our children have been killed, when we have been left homeless, when everything we had has been destroyed. This kind of forgiveness is nearly impossible.

Life consists of small gestures that seem trivial but restore dignity and hope. Mother Teresa used to say that every drop of water is important, because the sea is made of drops.

However, if we want to imitate God and live as his children, only mercy can bring peace. Otherwise, there will only be a temporary ceasefire, and the war will eventually continue. Without mercy, there is no peace.

COLUMBIA: In the context of extreme situations of religious persecution, such as is taking place in Nigeria, how can the Church survive and develop — and what role do mercy and forgiveness play in that?

Nigeria Wheelchair.jpg — A man in Ogoja, Nigeria, receives a wheelchair during a February 2025 distribution sponsored by the Knights of Columbus in partnership with the Global Wheelchair Mission. (Photo by Afolabi Sotunde)

CARDINAL KRAJEWSKI: We must always return to the Gospel — it alone can guide us. Evil must always be overcome with good.

Look at the example of Blessed Jerzy Popiełuszko. He shows us that even in the worst and most inhuman conditions, it’s possible to become a saint. The same is true of St. Maximilian Kolbe and the Ulma family. Thousands of saints — canonized and unknown — overcame evil with good.

There is no other way. We must always respond to evil with good — never in kind. This is a principle of the Gospel. It’s what Jesus did. When he was crucified, in the moment of his greatest suffering, he prayed, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do” (Lk 23:34).

This must be our attitude. It was the attitude of St. Stephen, the Church’s first martyr (Acts 7:54-60). This is what can save the world: overcoming evil with good.

COLUMBIA: With news of war and conflict constantly bombarding us, how can people who live in safety overcome their indifference?

CARDINAL KRAJEWSKI: We cannot become accustomed to war. Of course, in Ukraine, people have been living with war for four years, and they’re becoming desensitized to the sound of bombing sirens — because they have to carry on with life.

But those of us who live in peace, who have more than we need — we must guard against indifference. It’s the opposite of love — not hatred, but indifference.

Pope Francis once sent a photo to our office. It showed someone leaving the Church of St. Anne here in the Vatican. In front of the church sat a beggar. People coming out, dressed in beautiful fur coats, were turning their heads away from him as he asked for help. The pope said, “This is the worst thing that can happen to a Christian — to be indifferent.”

We also see this in the parable of the Good Samaritan. Many people passed by in a hurry; they didn’t have time. But one realized that by helping another human being, he was helping himself.

Dilexi Te — a document begun by Pope Francis and published by Pope Leo — speaks of almsgiving. It’s not a popular word today, because almsgiving means giving of yourself. And it has to hurt. If it doesn’t hurt, it’s not almsgiving. I give away not merely my surplus, but what is important to me.

COLUMBIA: What other spiritual and practical lessons can Knights draw from Dilexi Te and its call to love for the poor?

CARDINAL KRAJEWSKI: Dilexi Te emphasizes that almsgiving is the necessary compliment to prayer and fasting. Why? Prayer and fasting concern my interior life — they are meant to change me. But the real test of whether they have changed me is how I act toward others.

Scripture tells us that while prayer and fasting are good, almsgiving wipes away sins (cf. Tob 12:8-9). And Dilexi Te affirms that our closeness to God is reflected in how we treat other human beings — whether we are indifferent, or whether we share what we have received.

If there is food left over after dinner and I give it away so it doesn’t go to waste, that is simply justice. But if I cook something specifically for someone — knowing, for example, that they have a dietary restriction — and I prepare a dish just for them, that is almsgiving. It goes beyond justice, just as mercy does.

This brings to mind the poor widow in the Gospel, who gave everything she had (cf. Mk 12:41-44). In truth, she was as rich as a person can be, because she trusted Jesus — she gave everything she had.

Likewise, I know that whenever we turn to the Knights with a request, it will never go unanswered.

This is important. When we are united, we can move mountains. Our cooperation with the Knights of Columbus allows us to move mountains — to perform true miracles. These are not our miracles, but God’s — and thanks to his blessing, we are allowed to participate in them. For this, I thank every Knight.

Jackson makes a catch for an 85-yard touchdown against the Baltimore Colts on Dec. 8, 1962.

‘Only Mercy Can Bring Peace’

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