Pope says increasing military spending is madness
Speaking to the Italian Women's Centre, Francis said that he was “ashamed” that some countries opted recently to increase military spending as a response to war. A “culture of caring” rather than weapons is the true path. Gandhi, he noted, “led a people to freedom via the path of nonviolence.” Women offer an alternative model of politics.
Vatican City (AsiaNews) – Pope Francis met with members of the Centro Italiano Femminile (Italian Women's Centre) during an audience in the Vatican’s Clementine Hall.
In his address, he stressed the importance of their voice in changing the way the world is ruled, from a logic of power to one of care and service. He also turned to the war in Ukraine, calling for disarmament and the pursuit of world peace. This is a tall challenge and, in the pope’s view, women have a particular responsibility.
Speaking of women’s involvement in society, the pontiff referred to the conflict in Ukraine, noting that “good politics cannot come from the culture of power understood as domination and oppression, but only from a culture of caring, caring for people and their dignity, and caring for our common home. Unfortunately, the shameful war we are witnessing negatively proves it.”
"We have had plenty of regional wars,” he explained, “which is why I said we were [already] into a piecemeal third world war, a little everywhere, until this one, which is larger and threatens the whole world.” Yet, “the basic problem is the same: we continue to rule the world like a 'chessboard', where the powerful study ways to extend dominance to the detriment of others.”
Pope Francis slammed the renewed arms race. “I felt ashamed when I read that a group of states (those of NATO) decided to spend 2 per cent on the purchase of weapons.” This is “madness,” he bemoaned.
"The real answer is not other weapons, other sanctions, other political-military alliances, but another approach, a different way of governing the now globalised world, not showing aggressiveness, but a different way of setting international relations.
“The caring model is already in place, thank God, but unfortunately it is still subject to the economic-technocratic-military power.” For this reason, he urged women to “lead this change of course, towards conversion.”
This “is Jesus’s school”. Jesus “taught us how the Kingdom of God always develops starting from the small seed. It is Gandhi's school, who led a people to freedom via the path of nonviolence. It is the school of saints of all time, who made humanity grow by bearing witness to a life spent in the service of God and neighbour.”
What is more, “it is also – I would say above all – the school of countless women who have nurtured and safeguarded life; women who have healed frailties, who have healed wounds, who have healed human and social wounds; women who have dedicated their minds and hearts to the education of new generations.”
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08/03/2023 13:53
