Green light from the Vatican to send weapons: Ukrainians have the right to defend themselves
Weapons? Yes to sending to Kiev. Word of the secretary of state, Parolin, in an interview with the Spanish weekly Vida Nueva. And the top leader of Ukrainian Catholics in the United States has appealed to the world to give more weapons to fight the invasion of Russia. All the details
Weapons? Yes to sending to Kiev. Enlargement of NATO and the UN? With judgment, but that's not the problem. In an interview with the Spanish weekly Vida Nueva, Cardinal Pietro Parolin overturns many paradigms of those who thought they were exploiting the Vatican to justify their own narrative. Pope Francis seems to approve in full. Yesterday he defended Ukraine's right to exist as a state and to defend itself from the Russian invasion. Meanwhile, Putin parades to his pride. Quote the Gospel. For the Catholic Church it is blasphemous. Here are all the details
Parolin: "It is permissible to send weapons to Kiev"
“The use of weapons is never something desirable, because it always carries a very high risk of killing people or causing serious injury and terrible material damage. However , the right to defend one's life, one's people and one's country sometimes also involves the sad recourse to arms . At the same time both sides must refrain from the use of prohibited weapons and fully respect international humanitarian law to protect civilians and people out of combat. On the other hand, although military aid to Ukraine may be understandable, the search for a negotiated solution, which silences weapons and prevents nuclear escalation, remains a priority ”. This is how the Vatican secretary of state replies, in an interview with the Spanish weekly Vida Nueva , regarding the sending of weapons to the Ukrainians. In the days and hours in which European and American politics, the differently charged intellectuals between a television talk and an editorial give their opinion, does Cardinal Pietro Parolin marry an armed line of defense? Yes, but not really. The priority remains the diplomatic path.
The Eminence freezes the pacifists who ignore the suffering for an abstract ideology
The Catholic position does not change one line. It will disappoint some columnists . It reduces the citable bibliography of pacifists with the rights of others, but it is not surprising. The concept of legitimate defense is extensively treated in the documents of the Magisterium even after Vatican II. It is found, among other things, in the Catechism and in the Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church promulgated by John Paul II .
"It is a right and a duty to help victims who cannot defend themselves from aggression"
"The right to use force for self-defense purposes is associated with the duty to protect and help innocent victims who cannot defend themselves from aggression." It is the architrave that supports the “legitimate defense” principle at 504 of the Compendium . Document that therefore clarifies not only the lawfulness, but also the obligation to protect the civilian population from the effects of the war.
Via diplomatica is the main road
But there is no blessing of bombs and guns. Parolin himself, on Wednesday 16, at the mass for peace, celebrated in St. Peter's Basilica, was equally clear: "Do not think that if we listened more to the words of our Lord, the weapons would be silent, and they would not even need to be manufactured? ". And again: "Let us repeat with the Pope: shut up the weapons!". In front of the cardinal, the diplomatic corps accredited to the Holy See. Including the Russian and Ukrainian ambassadors.
The Pope: "Ukrainians are defending their land"
Coincidentally, on the same Friday 18, when the preview of the Spanish weekly was released with the interview with Parolin , the text of the message that Francis sent to Gintaras Grušas, archbishop of Vilnius and president of the Council of the bishops' conferences of 'Europe, on the occasion of the opening of the European Catholic Social Days underway in Bratislava. Referring to the conflict in Ukraine, Bergoglio denounces a "perverse abuse of power and partisan interests, which condemns defenseless people to suffer all forms of brutal violence" and asked for help for the Ukrainians, " a people wounded in their identity, in their history and tradition ". He adds: " The blood and tears of children, the suffering of women and men who are defending their land or fleeing the bombs shake our conscience ". Perhaps it was the strongest and most explicit call of the Bishop of Rome in affirming the right of Ukraine to exist as a state and to defend itself from the invasion of Russia. And, together, I appeal to the international community to do its part. We need, he asked, "a commitment to re-found an architecture of peace on a global level, where the European house, created to guarantee peace after the world wars, has a primary role".
"The problem is not the enlargement of NATO and the EU"
Parolin also spoke of international institutions. Going into detail. Asked about the alleged sense of danger that Russia feels for the expansion of NATO and the EU in Eastern Europe, the Vatican Secretary of State cites the freedom of each country to take, "in full autonomy, its own political decisions ”, While recalling the importance of also taking into account relations with other states. He underlines: "The main problem, in my opinion, is not so much the enlargement or not of NATO and the EU, but the existing opposition with other countries".
The mystical imperialism of the Kremlin lights candles and kills people
A vision, the latter, basically credited by Putinian Moscow itself, according to an editorial by RIA Novosti , published by mistake on February 26 – it was in fact quickly removed – to explain, with the probable Kremlin visa, the reasons of the Kremlin and its "special operation in Ukraine". Where "the question of Russia's national security, that is, letting Ukraine become anti-Russian, is not the most important reason". Crucial is mystical nationalism, mistrust of the West and its values, for a new world order that has Russian imperialism as a bulwark, almost a katechon , a sacred obstacle, to Western secularism.
When Francis criticized the UN
The problems of conflict referred to by Parolin are knots that international institutions are unable to resolve. The Vatican secretary of state does not say this explicitly. Pope Francis said this when returning from Japan in 2019. Responding to reporters, he stated: “International organizations fail, the United Nations cannot … They do many things, many mediations, it is deserving. But it is little, we still have to do more. (We think) to the Security Council: there is a problem with weapons, everyone agrees to solve that problem to avoid a war accident, everyone votes yes, one with the right of veto votes no and everything stops. I have heard that perhaps the United Nations should take a step forward by giving up in the Security Council the right of veto of some nations. I don't know what to say, but it would be nice if everyone had the same right ”. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was on the same level a few days ago.
Rome asks for peace, it does not forbid weapons if they are used to defend itself
Therefore: not only Rome refuses to bless the weapons in the field. God forbid. On the contrary: for some time it has been pleading for a way to be found to stop manufacturing war armaments. However, given that the long cassocks do not escape realism in this matter, they do not even proclaim themselves non expedit in providing aid to the attacked so that they can defend themselves and protect people and borders. In fact, local churches have also been asking for military aid for Ukraine for some time.
The Ukrainian archbishop from the US: "What good is it if you feed but then people blow up?"
On Tuesday, the top leader of Ukrainian Catholics in the United States appealed to the world to give more weapons to fight the invasion of Russia and help deal with the deepening humanitarian crisis. Borys Gudziak , Metropolitan Archbishop of Philadelphia for the Ukrainian Catholic Church in the US, said at a press conference in Washington that there is a desperate need for armored ambulances, medical supplies and food, but also weapons. He asked: "What good is it if you feed the stomachs of these children, these women, these people in the cities, if their brains are about to explode, if their apartment buildings are reduced to rubble?" The archbishop did not fail to note how sad it is to see the leadership of the Russian Orthodox Church supporting President Vladimir Putin and the war, and criticized Patriarch Kirill for donating a large icon of the Virgin Mary to a leader of the Russian National Guard.
From Kiev all the churches and religions are calling for weapons. Including the Orthodox faithful to Kirill
Already on March 8 it was the Ukrainian Council of Churches that asked for fighter jets . The body includes Christians of various denominations, Jews and Muslims. The Council appealed to NATO, the UN, the European Union, the OSCE and the Council of Europe to take "urgent measures to introduce a no-fly zone over Ukraine and to provide the Armed Forces of Ukraine a modern air defense equipment, including fighter planes, in order to protect our greatest value – human lives and civilian infrastructure – from the barbaric bombings of the Russian invaders ”. Not secondary: on the Council sit, side by side, OnufriJ , primate of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate, and Metropolitan Epiphanius , primate of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, detached from Moscow and considered schismatic by Patriarch Kirill .
Central Orthodox problem in the conflict
Yet another sign of the crack in the Orthodox world due to the connection between the patriarchate and the Kremlin. A position that has kept the Vatican cautious. But the levee broke. If in the first days of the war direct references to the person responsible were avoided, that is the Russian aggression, diluted in a broader call to prayer, now the wind has changed. L'Osservatore Romano explicitly writes of "aggression by the Russian army in Ukraine": Father Antonio Spadaro , director of Civiltà Cattolica and Francis ' advisor, was already doing it. Now he does not hide precise objections to the Kirill line. Not only have there been no appeals from the Patriarch to the Russian president, nor requests for an immediate end to the conflict. But he somehow endorsed the war, attributing to it – as Kirill said – a "metaphysical meaning". Spadaro comments: “When religious significance is combined with a conflict, evoking apocalyptic scenarios of conflict between good and evil, it means that the situation has become serious. Holy war has no limits ”.
The distance between Russian Orthodoxy and Roman Catholicism is widening
The Vatican has called for peace, humanitarian corridors, a ceasefire and a return to negotiations, and has also offered to mediate between the parties. Francis went to the Russian embassy to the Holy See to "personally express his concern for the war", in an extraordinary and unprecedented papal gesture. But Francis did not publicly condemn Russia by name or publicly appeal to Kirill .
Yesterday he went further. A few days after he told the head of the Russian Orthodox Church that the concept of "just war" is obsolete. since wars are never justifiable, and that pastors must preach Christ not politics.
Those comments, during a video call with Kirill on Wednesday, appeared to be an indirect blow to the patriarch's apparent defense of the war. Kirill , who is close to Putin , and has in fact justified the invasion. In his message on Friday, Francis again did not mention Russia by name. But he strongly supported Ukraine.
Meanwhile, Putin parades at the pride
Everything happens on the same day as Putin 's ovation at the crowded Moscow stadium for the eighth anniversary of the annexation of Crimea. “There is no greater love than giving one's life for one's friends,” he said, quoting the Gospel. To the great variety of Russian imperialism. Spadaro replies : “Politics must not usurp the language of Jesus to justify hatred. The religious rhetoric of power and violence is blasphemous ”. For Bruno Forte , theologian and archbishop of Chieti, quoting the Gospel of John, as the Russian president did, "is certainly a sacrilegious act", "he can no longer find arguments to justify this madness, an unjustified and totally immoral aggression" , “ It is a genuine blasphemy ”.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/mondo/via-libera-del-vaticano-allinvio-di-armi-gli-ucraini-hanno-il-diritto-di-difendersi/ on Sat, 19 Mar 2022 08:04:50 +0000.