The German bishops’ conference has called on the Moscow Patriarch to take a clear stand against Russia’s military aggression in the Ukraine.
He very much hoped for a “clear statement opposing Russia’s military aggression in the Ukraine”, Bishop Gerhard Feige of Magdeburg, who heads the conference’s ecumenism commission, emphasised in Bonn.
Feige sharply condemned the violence and destruction Russian armies were causing in the Ukraine. He hoped that the war would soon be over and the bloodshed would stop, he said. “The faithful of all denominations and religions in the Ukraine are suffering in this war and it is the Moscow Patriarchate’s responsibility to act for all of them.”
The German bishops also condemned any justification of Russia’s aggressive war. “There must be no open or indirect support or legitimisation of the Russian war on the part of religious protagonists”, Feige declared. At the beginning of the week, the Moscow Patriarch Kyrill I had called Russia’s opponents “the forces of evil”.
The head of the Justice and Peace Commission in Germany, Bishop Peter Kohlgraf of Mainz, criticised the “close relationship” between the Russian Orthodox Church and the political powers in Russia. It was fundamentally problematic “to consolidate political power with theological motives”. War and violence against others could never be theologically justified, he emphasised on 4 March on Deutschlandfunk.
“Behind the scenes, Germany must do everything it can to de-escalate the conflict but it must also make quite clear that it supports the Ukrainian people and the government has now done that by sending arms”, the German military bishop, Franz-Josef Overbeck of Essen told the Bild Zeitung.
Meanwhile many Catholic Bishops in Africa are remaining silent on the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
The Tablet, reached the Catholic Church in Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Central African Republic (CAR) and Kenya. Sudan said they would rather not comment. On February 23, top Sudanese general Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo flew to Russia to meet the foreign minister and defence officials.
Kenyan officials said there would be no comments or statements from the bishops, without giving any reasons. Similarly, the Association of Member Episcopal Conferences in Eastern Africa (AMECEA) said it would not comment on the matter.
As of now the church in DRC and CAR has not responded to our request for comment. Russia has a known presence in CAR, while some reports indicate it has been trying to enter DRC.
The strongest voices against the Russian invasion are coming from the Church in South Africa. While the country itself abstained from the vote on the UN General Assembly motion to reprimand Russia, Jesuits and the Anglicans condemned the Russian invasion.
Fr. Russell Pollitt, the director of Jesuit Institute South Africa said the “aggressive and immoral” attack on Ukraine by Russia must be condemned in the strongest terms possible.
“It an outright affront on human dignity and immorally reprehensive,” said Pollitt. “The peace of the whole Europe is under threat and the entire world will be poorer and affected by the imperialist invasion.”
The official said the institute wanted the government to tell the Russian President to stop the attacks and immediately seek resolution through dialogue.
Anglican Archbishop Thabo Makgoba of Cape Town said the flagrant breach of the United Nations Charter by the Russian Federation's invasion of the sovereign nation of Ukraine should not be overlooked.
“…I urge the government to condemn unequivocally the Russian invasion. After all the support the United Nations gave us in the struggle against apartheid, it is unthinkable that we should approve such a flagrant violation of a central tenet of the UN Charter,” said Makgoba.
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