Pope: Peace based on arms race, reciprocal fear sets us back 70 years

Francis says the Ukrainian crisis still could become an opportunity for wise statesman to build a better world.

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As he does almost every week, the Pope urged prayer for peace in Ukraine and the whole world.

After praying the midday Angelus on July 3, he said this:

Let us continue to pray for peace in Ukraine and throughout the world. I appeal to the leaders of nations and international organizations to react to the tendency to escalate conflict and opposition. The world needs peace. Not a peace based on the parity of arms, on reciprocal fear. No, that won’t work. That is setting history back 70 years.
The Ukrainian crisis should have been, but – if one wishes – it can still become, a challenge for wise statesmen, capable of building in dialogue a better world for new generations. With God’s help, this is always possible.
But we must move from strategies of political, economic and military power to a project of global peace: not a world divided between conflicting powers, but a world united among peoples and civilizations that respect each other.

Getting worse

More than four months have passed since the beginning of the Russian offensive on Ukraine on February 24. Large-scale fighting is currently going on in the Donbass, especially in the city of Lissychansk, which is under siege by Russian forces. As well, Belarus, a country allied with Moscow, has accused Ukraine of having launched missiles on its territory.

Beyond Ukraine, other areas of tension have emerged in recent days, notably around the Kaliningrad enclave, a Russian territory bordering Poland and Lithuania, as well as in Scandinavia.

The blocking of supplies to a small Russian settlement on the island of Spitsbergen, under Norwegian sovereignty, has also become a subject of tension between Norway and Russia. In addition, the prospect of Finland and Sweden joining NATO has led to threats from Russia.