Pope condemns the ‘madness’ of increased defence spending in the wake of Ukraine invasion and says a new way must be found to balance world power
- NATO has a target of 2 per cent of a member state’s GDP to spend on defence
- Germany announced it would sharply increase spending in response to the war
- Pope Francis said conflict was product of ‘old logic of power that still dominates’
Pope Francis today condemned the ‘madness’ of increased defence spending in the wake of the Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and said a new way must be found to balance world power.
Speaking to a coalition of women’s groups, the pope said the conflict in Ukraine was a product of ‘the old logic of power that still dominates so-called geopolitics’.
The real response was not more weapons and more sanctions, he said.
‘I was embarrassed when I read that a group of states have committed to spending two percent…of GDP in acquiring weapons as a response to what is happening now. Madness,’ Francis said.
Pope Francis today condemned the ‘madness’ of increased defence spending in the wake of the Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and said a new way must be found to balance world power
Germany announced last month it would sharply increase its defence spending to more than 2% of its GDP in a policy shift prompted by the Russian invasion. Pictured: German Chancellor Olaf Scholz walks next to Markus Beck, head of Bundeswehr Operations Command’s press and information center
NATO has a target of 2% of a member state’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to spend on defence.
Many have fallen short in the past several years, to the annoyance of the United States.
But Germany announced last month it would sharply increase its defence spending to more than 2% of its GDP in a policy shift prompted by the Russian invasion.
France, one of Europe’s biggest military powers, has said it will reach NATO’s 2% spending goal sought by the United States this year.
Other European countries have also decided to raise spending by various degrees.
Italy is in the midst of a heated political debate over proposed increases.
Francis said that what was needed was ‘a different way of governing the globalised world, not by showing your teeth, as is done now, but a different way to frame international relations.’
He did not make any suggestions as to how that might be done.
Since the war began the pope has implicitly criticised Moscow, condemning what he has called an ‘unjustified aggression’ and denouncing ‘atrocities,’ but he has not mentioned Russia by name.
Source: Read Full Article