Religious Leaders Support Pope Francis’ Message: Ceasefire in Ukraine
By Marcy Winograd
In the hope of influencing President Biden and Congress, where all members, except for one (Kristen Sinema (I-AZ), identify with a religion, the Peace in Ukraine Coalition is sponsoring a full-page ceasefire ad and statement in Sojourner’s Christian social justice magazine featuring quotes from Pope Francis. Several hundred religious leaders–Catholics, Christians, Jews, Muslims, Quakers–are signatories to the statement in support of Pope Francis’ message below:
How much blood must still flow for us to realize that war is never a solution, only destruction? In the name of God and in the name of the sense of humanity that dwells in every heart, I renew my call for an immediate ceasefire. Let there be a halt to arms, and let us seek the conditions for negotiations.
Some of the religious leaders listed as signatories in the ad include, but are not limited, to the following:
Father John Dear, Nobel Peace Prize nominee by Archbishop Desmond Tutu; Dr. Ansel Augustine, Dir., Office of the Black Catholic Ministers of the Archdiocese of New Orleans; Rabbi Elyse Wechterman, Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association; Zainab Al-Suwaij, Co-founder and Executive Director, American Islamic Congress; Tom Cordaro, Pax Christi USA, Ambassador of Peace; Sarah Clarke, Director & UN Representative, Quaker United Nations Office; Michele Dunne OFS, Executive Director, Franciscan Action Network; Michael Baxter, Ph.D., Director of Catholic Studies, Regis University; John Bach, Quaker Chaplain, Harvard University; Dan Moriarty, Program Coordinator, Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns; Rev. Joseph E. Mulligan, S.J; Michael Neuroth, Director of the Washington Office, United Church of Christ, and many others.
In July, dozens of the ad’s signatories signed a similar letter published in the Independent Catholic News. “As the Pope said: "whatever is built on rubble can never be a true victory … "Let us not get used to conflict and violence. Let us not get used to war,” reads the letter.
There are 70 million Catholics in the United States, including Joe Biden, who was married by a Catholic priest at the Chapel of the United Nations in New York City. Pope Francis’ repeated calls for a ceasefire in Ukraine should, therefore, resonate with an observant Catholic, particularly one who regularly attends Mass, crosses himself and takes the oath of matrimony at a chapel affiliated with an organization founded at the end of World War II to prevent future wars.
Yet, Biden, who ran on a platform to end forever wars, has never once supported a ceasefire in the Russia-Ukraine War, pledging instead to send more and more weapons–tanks coated in depleted uranium, long-range fighter jets, and now internationally-banned cluster munitions in a US proxy war with nuclear-armed Russia.
According to Pew Research, nearly nine-in-ten members of Congress identify as Christian, compared to 65% of the general public, while 74% of US adults affiliate with a religion. For those wishing to end the tragic war in Ukraine and avoid a nuclear showdown that threatens global annihilation, engaging the faith-based community is key to shifting public opinion from support for “fighting to the last Ukrainian” to support for promoting peace to protect all life on earth.
Pope Francis has repeatedly pleaded for a ceasefire since Russia invaded Ukraine in February, 2022, and has offered to act as a mediator in diplomatic negotiations between Ukraine and Russia.
On May 13th, the Pope met privately with Ukrainian President Zelenskyy at the Vatican to pray for peace and to consider–though not endorse– the Ukrainian leader’s 10- point peace plan. Zelensky’s plan calls for “restoring Ukraine’s territorial integrity,” which translates into continuous warfare until Ukraine takes back the Donbas in eastern Ukraine and Crimea in southern Ukraine, both areas home to millions of ethnic Russians.
Following the meeting with Zelensky, Pope Francis appointed a peace envoy for Ukraine, Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, the 67-year-old archbishop of Bologna, who, in addressing the Italian Bishops Conference at the Vatican, renounced war as a “pandemic” and asked all Christians to become peacemakers. Zuppi is accomplished at conflict mediation, having mediated peace agreements ending civil wars in Guatemala and Mozambique in the 1990s, and having negotiated Burundi’s ceasefire in 2000.
The Peace in Ukraine Coalition urges congregants to take both the the ad and more lengthy statement to their church, temple or other spiritual center, share the Pope’s message in support of a ceasefire and weapons freeze, and ask their religious leaders to echo the Pope’s call in sermons and other communications with congregants.
With an estimated 1.3 billion Catholics in the world, the majority in Latin America, Africa and Asia, Pope Francis has an enormous reach. He also stands in solidarity with leaders of the Global South—Lula in Brazil, Lopez-Obrador in Mexico, Xi Jinping in China—in calling for a ceasefire to prevent further death, destruction and displacement, environmental contamination and disruption of food distribution.
About Peace in Ukraine Coalition:
Peace in Ukraine is a US-based organization in support of a mutual ceasefire, weapons halt and diplomacy to end the Russia-Ukraine War.