The peace movement had not been heard so loudly during a Catholic day for a long time: "Create peace without weapons" and "Church without a military" chanted a handful of demonstrators on Friday morning in front of the Sankt Eberhard cathedral in Stuttgart.

Here the Catholic military bishop Franz-Josef Overbeck celebrated a service with soldiers.

A few hundred meters further on, completely different tones, unusual for a Catholic Day, were struck shortly afterwards: Former Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin opened a panel discussion with a military situation report and a former senior employee of Caritas International explained that the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine could only be ended by arms deliveries will.

Thomas Jansen

Editor in Politics.

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The Ukraine War is one of the central themes of the 102nd Catholic Day.

There can be no talk of a deep division like that in the Protestant Church, the staunch opponents of arms deliveries are in the minority.

But in Stuttgart it is becoming clear these days that not a few Catholics are finding it difficult to follow the comparatively clear vote of their bishops in this case as well.

The bishops had described arms deliveries to Ukraine as "basically legitimate" and the plans to strengthen the German armed forces as "plausible".

“German bureaucracy kills Ukrainian children”

The most prominent example of such a struggle is the President of the Central Committee of German Catholics, Irme-Stetter-Karp.

In a panel discussion with Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Friday, she admitted that she was not yet completely at peace with herself on the subject of arms deliveries.

This was also shown later at the rally on the Ukraine war in the Upper Palace Garden.

In her speech there was a lot of talk about just peace and "civil peace work".

However, the ZdK President avoided the issue of arms deliveries.

Stetter-Karp only said: "Ukraine defends peace".

The interest in the rally was low: the ZdK President spoke in front of around 1000 people and was far below the expectations of the organizers.

Two hundred Ukrainians, who also came, must have been too few.

Chancellor Scholz once again defended the planned strengthening of the Bundeswehr at the Catholic Day.

When asked whether so many weapons were necessary for peace, he replied: "Yes!".

At the same time, Scholz thanked the churches for their commitment to Ukrainian refugees.

However, the organizers had spared him a confrontation with hardliners in the Catholic peace movement.

He was easily able to agree with Stetter-Karp's demand that the budget for development policy should also have "more food".

In Stuttgart it also became apparent that there are quite different views of Russia within the Catholic Church in Ukraine.

The Exarch for the Catholic Ukrainians in Germany and Scandinavia, Bishop Bohdan Dzyurakh, said with regard to his country's future relationship with Russia: "I am a Christian and I can forgive".

After all, you also have to think about the time after the war.

On the other hand, his episcopal brother Stepan Sus from the Great Archdiocese of Kyiv, who spent a good three weeks in an area that was reconquered by the Ukrainians, reported on the atrocities of the Russian occupiers.

It is a "fight against evil".

And this evil must be “stopped and destroyed”.