EU bishops say rearmament must not weaken peace efforts

Addressing the Comece assembly, the Vatican’s Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin said: ‘Dialogue remains the only viable path.’

The European Union’s Catholic bishops acknowledged growing global political tensions but said member states should not rearm if that meant weakening their commitment to peace and diplomacy.

“Any necessary, proportionate and adequate investments towards European defence must not come at the expense of efforts aimed at promoting human dignity, justice, integral human development and the care of Creation,” they said after the Brussels-based Commission of Bishops’ Conferences of the European Union (Comece) held its spring assembly near Rome.

In a statement titled “Looking to Europe with hope” published on 28 March, they acknowledged that global tension was eroding multilateralism and democracy. “This combination is resulting in ruthless competition and violent confrontations, often in blatant violation of international law,” they said.

Addressing the assembly, the Vatican’s Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin said: “Dialogue remains the only viable path.”

He continued: “The European Union was built on the principles of solidarity, respect for human dignity, and justice. These values must not be abandoned in times of difficulty but rather strengthened.”

The Church, he said, “must continue to remind Europe of its founding values, peace, human dignity, and the common good”, because “only by returning to these principles can Europe truly be a force for good in the world”.

The final statement said that the fragmentation of international relations had led to the decline of multilateral cooperation and the violation of international law, most notably in the invasion of Ukraine. The suffering of the Ukrainian people, it said, was a reminder of the fragility of peace and the urgent need for renewed cooperation.

Comece’s president Bishop Mariano Crociata said Ukraine was the victim of efforts to make it “appear not to be attacked but to be the aggressor” and was being made “a bargaining chip in a negotiation conducted over its head”.

As US troops in Europe conducted exercises alongside Nato troops as part of Operation Atlantic Resolve, a series of military activities in response to Russian attacks on Ukraine since 2014, the Catholics in Vilnius prayed for four US soldiers who went missing close to the Belarussian border.

Vilnius Cathedral held a Mass for the rescue operation on Sunday after their armoured vehicle was reported missing on 25 March during an exercise in the Pabradė polygon training area, 10km from border. The vehicle was later found submerged in a five-metre-deep swamp, making its retrieval difficult to carry out.

“We’ve been praying separately, but it is good to come together and pray, to know that we are shoulder to shoulder in our attempts, in our work, and in our prayers,” said Archbishop Gintaras Grušas of Vilnius told the congregation at the Mass, which included Lithuanian government and diplomatic officials and US military personnel.

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