By Andrea Tornielli

“The Holy See considers it essential to put an end to the use of indiscriminate weapons, landmines and cluster munitions, and to stop the deployment of explosive weapons in populated areas. This together with the cessation of arms production and stockpiling constitute concrete and urgent steps towards a better protection of civilians” in armed conflicts, said Archbishop Gabriele Caccia, Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the UN, speaking on 22 May at the Security Council’s open debate on the protection of civilians.

“The Holy See” said Archbishop Caccia, “while deeply concerned about the increasing number and intensity of armed conflicts across the world, which continue to inflict profound and disproportionate suffering on civilian populations, underscores the urgent need for compliance with international humanitarian law, in particular the Geneva Conventions and their Additional Protocols.”

These are words whose truth and urgency are there for all to see: the tragedy unfolding in Gaza, to the detriment of the entire civilian population, has no justification. Just as there can be no justification for the attacks on civilians in Ukraine and other parts of the world, where the many forgotten wars are being fought.

“The deliberate targeting of civilians, including women, children, and humanitarian personnel; the destruction of essential infrastructure such as hospitals, schools, and places of worship; and the denial of humanitarian access to those in urgent need are of great concern,” he continued. “While these violations are an immense human tragedy, they also represent a grave affront to the foundations of international security.”

On Friday, 23 May, Pope Leo XIV received the presidency of the Commission of the Bishops’ Conferences of the European Union (COMECE). There were no public speeches, but the bishops who attended reported that the Pontiff “expressed his fear that a greater focus on arms spending would be at the expense of support for the most needy and fragile.”

Earlier, receiving representatives of other Churches and ecclesial communities and other religions on 19 May, Pope Leo had said: “In a world wounded by violence and conflict, each of the communities represented here brings its own contribution of wisdom, compassion and commitment to the good of humanity and the preservation of our common home. I am convinced that if we are in agreement, and free from ideological and political conditioning, we can be effective in saying ‘no’ to war and ‘yes’ to peace; ‘no’ to the arms race and ‘yes’ to disarmament; ‘no’ to an economy that impoverishes peoples and the Earth and ‘yes’ to integral development.”

These are words to remember and repeat today, on the tenth anniversary of the social encyclical Laudato si’, in the face of a world rushing to rearm itself, taking away resources that could be used to fight hunger and poverty.