Holding his weekly address to the faithful in St Peter’s Square on March 5th, Pope Francis took a moment to reflect on it being the second International Day for Disarmament and Non-Proliferation Awareness.
Speaking before an estimated 20k people, his Holiness offered, “How many resources are wasted on military expenditure, which, because of the current situation, sadly continues to increase…The international community will understand that disarmament is first and foremost a duty, and that disarmament is a moral obligation. Let’s get this into our heads. And this requires the courage of all members of the great family of nations to move from a balance of fear to a balance of trust.”
For years now, the Catholic church has shunned the idea of nuclear arms and wagged its finger at the arms race between nations. With Pope Francis previously suggesting we “ban all arms,” his words could lead to the removal of everything. From Fully automatic rifles like the M240B carried by the US military to the Pope’s halberds carried by the Swiss guard, nothing would remain. Even bread knives would be gone under such a ruling.
This isn’t the way the world works. While the sentiments being offered are indicative of the way the liberals see the idea of peace, arms are nothing if not a necessity at this point. Those who don’t have are always jealous of those who do. Stopping at nothing in their quest to get it, they will use whatever is at their disposal. Weapons won’t simply disappear because we say they need to.
If his Holiness has a goal of world peace, then he needs to start reaching out to those firing shots in anger and not condemning those simply trying to keep what they have earned.
