My peacenik friend – who comes from a Catholic background – was characteristically violent in his outburst: “Why can’t the Pope send a plane load of Cardinals to the Russia-Ukraine war zone and broker peace?”
A pertinent question.
Especially coming against the backdrop of the abysmal failure of the U.N. in achieving cessation of hostilities between the warring nations! Barring a few places like Cyprus and may be some nations in Africa, the great congregation of nations in New York is known only for its grandiloquent impotence! An impressive array of suited and booted gentry, backslapping one another, get together to draft lofty resolutions – translated into multiple languages – and vote on them, only to see the entirely predictable scene of some nations walking out.
If the Resolution censures Russian, you can be sure that India and China will be among those abstaining, never mind the fact that the soldiers of these two nations are pitted against each other in Ladakh and elsewhere.
Strange bedfellows indeed!
This story repeats multiple times with every resolution and in the end…..all you get is so much waste paper and e-waste, while blood continues to flow in the borders of warring nations. I imagine once the formalities in the General Assembly are quickly rushed through, these high profile diplomats adjourn to the bar to gulp down Bloody Mary or some such quirkily named alcoholic beverage.
I once heard an unforgettable expansion of a UN instituition called UNCTAD: if you do not know what the acronymn stands for, do not worry; just think of it as UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES TAKE ANY DECISION!
This pretty much sums up the work of the exalted apex body of nations!
So the UN has met a few times on this issue, made the usual noise and quitened down, dog-like. It will bark again from time to time and retire thereafter. It has done its job most ineffectually – as usual! The skill most in demand in the body I reckon, is drafting ability. The periods, colons, semi-colons, commas, inverted commas, apostrophes, paranthesis etc make up the tool kit to enable nuancing the wordings of the Resoluation any which way. And then comes the disagreement; and walk-out. It is all a game the big boys (and girls) play as directed by the Foreign Office back in the home country.
That brings us to another great establishment – the Church.
In Germany, the Bundestag federal system has, since 1949, been dominated by the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD). Angela Merkel, chancellor for mutiple terms, belonged to the CDU. The Evangeische Kirche in Deutschland has a strong influence in the politics of the nation. Yet what do we read in the news?
“After weeks of reluctance, Germany has agreed to send Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine, in what Kyiv hopes will be a game-changer on the battlefield.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced the decision to send 14 tanks – and allow other countries to send theirs too – at a cabinet meeting on Wednesday.”
And the US President Joe Biden’s administration is also expected to announce plans to send at least 30 M1 Abrams tanks. Joe Biden is a professing catholic.
Read on:
” Earlier this month, Britain said it would send 14 of its main battle tanks along with additional artillery support to Ukraine.
“The intention is that it will be at the end of March,” the Foreign Minister told parliament in response to a question asking when the tanks would arrive in Ukraine. He said between now and then, Ukrainian forces would be trained intensively on how to operate and maintain the vehicles.”
Going of on a tangent altogether, the Archbishop of Canterbury has praised the “extraordinary courage” of the Ukrainian people, on a visit to the capital Kyiv.
The Most Reverend Justin Welby said the visit was about “showing solidarity” as Ukraine faces a “humanitarian catastrophe”.
Across Ukraine, missile and drone strikes have left millions without electricity, heating or water. Ukrainian and Western leaders have condemned the strikes as war crimes. Before going to Kyiv, Mr Welby met Ukrainian refugees in Warsaw, Poland, which he said was “deeply moving”.
In a speech on Wednesday, the first day of his three-day visit, the Archbishop praised Ukrainians for their “extraordinary courage in the face of Russia’s illegal, unjust and brutal invasion. Speaking about meeting Ukrainian refugees, he said: “In this season of Advent, we remember that Jesus was born into conflict and persecution – and became a refugee when his parents fled violence and persecution to seek safety in Egypt.”
“Jesus” is somehow inserted into the palaver to give a Christian flavour; Archbishop, is he not? And note the words: “keep praying“.
I don’t know what “offering our solidarity and support in every way we can” means. I suppose that is left to the Foreign Minstry’s James Cleverly who obviously interprets it to mean supplying of armaments.
As for the other side, Viktor Yelenskyi, a member of the Ukrainian Parliament writes:
“Moscow Patriarchate should be sanctioned for blessing the war”
“The Moscow Patriarchy of the Russian Orthodox Church is guilty of blessing the war and it should be considered one of the Kremlin propaganda tools. Its clergy, which blesses Russian war criminals, should be sanctioned together with Russian political and military leaders and excluded from contact with the Western world.”
On 13 March, Patriarch Kirill blessed the Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Guard Viktor Zolotov and bestowed him with the icon of Our Lady. On his part, Zolotov thanked the head of the Russian Orthodox Church: The icon “will accelerate our victory [over Ukraine],” he said.
And as for Ukraine, Religion is diverse, with a majority of the population adhering to Christianity of one kind or another.
It is interesting that both sides are looking to Jesus to wage the war and Jesus is torn asunder! A whole jing bang lotof Christians all around. But sadly
no talk of peace
It behoves us at this moment to reflect on the message sung by a multitude of heavenly host at the birth of Jesus Christ:
“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men”
One Christmas has gone by – with men missing in so so many homes, both sides of the border. Buildings – including schools and hospitals -destroyed and untold hardship suffered by people.
Yet all that the Archbishop of Canterbury could bring himself to say was: “keep praying for the people of Ukraine in this Advent season”.
Why not pray for the Russians too, the bulk of them willynilly sent to fight Putin’s war?
And why only pray?
Where are the Isaiahs who talked about doing something about peace, saying”they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.” (Isaiah 2:4).
As my friend lamented: The Vatican is a State and the Pope is the acknowledged head of the Christian world. Why can he not round up the Catholic Americans, the Anglican British, the Evangelische Germans and despatch a composite delegation to talk to the Orthodox Russians and Ukrainians? What is the point of being ensconsed in your comfort zone and singing “Grant us peace” round and round in Latin while blood continues to flow in Donetsk, Luhansk and other places in the war zone?
It is tragic to see the Holy See doing practically nothing in this regard. Jesus prayed that “ That they all may be one” (John 17:21). Whither unity?
When you can take the name of Jesus for War, is it not rather more desirable to take His name for Peace? After all, He was described prophetically as the “Prince of Peace” (Isaiah 9:6). Was He not?
I gather the Scripures say at three places that Jesus wept.
Perhaps He is weeping again at the shenanigans and hypocrisy of His followers now?
Is it not the time for the church all over Orbis to come together, for what cause can be more noble than bringing “peace on earth” in the name of Jesus? But sadly the Church all over the world has lost its moral compass by putting people like “Hophni” at the helm.
So while the canon law of the Roman Catholic Church requires that clerics “observe perfect and perpetual continence for the sake of the kingdom of heaven” headlines are screaming at us with the news that:
Almost 1,700 priests and clergy accused of sex abuse are unsupervised
5,700 Acts Of Sexual Abuse Committed By German Catholic Priests: Report
The global scale of child sexual abuse in the Catholic Church
A series of abuse scandals, often involving children, have rocked the Catholic Church in recent decades.
And in our own country,that we are a tiny minority shoudln’t matter if we are effective as salt and spread the sweet fragrance of Christ. But the sad fact is that while one branch of Christians are faithfully labouring to spread the good news of the Gospel, there is another which is getting more traction in the press by its nefarious activities. Yes, filthy lucre, property and power that corrupts (and of late illegitimate sensual pleasures) are a huge attraction to the church biggies:
Bishop in Madras sentenced to 90 days imprisonment for contempt of court
ED grills Bishop for 9 hours, may quiz him again
Cheating case: Madhya Pradesh police arrest CNI’s Jabalpur diocese bishop
I-T raids on evangelist expose ₹120 crore of unaccounted income
Outrage as bishop acquitted in nun rape, court blames ‘rivalry’
Murder in the convent: On Sister Abhaya murder case
Is this bringing glory to God? These worthies are nonchalantly pursuing their own diabolical agenda with little thought of “eternal life” which they unabashedly preach to others. They seems to be in an unseemly hurry to gobble up whatever moral capital was carefully built up by the missionaries brick by brick in yester years; for life is short!
So we lament that the Church in India cannot play any useful role at all in working out global peace in its current state.
But rather than hopelessly hang down our heads in collective shame and shared misery, why not repent, confess of our grievous sins and return to God? Why not take some positive steps and walk purposefully towards redemption.
“In returning and rest you shall be saved” (Isaiah 30:15) says the Lord. Perhaps it is for such situations that Jesus said to his disciples: “but I made supplication for thee, that thy faith fail not; and do thou, when once thou hast turned again, establish thy brethren. (Luke 22:32)
Yes,
Though a professing Catholic, we all stand together under our One Lord Jesus Christ. Well written, Judah uncle. Literary art of the highest order. Hats off!
*Realistic literary art
Thanks man
Thanks again