UNION OF THE CATHOLIC APOSTOLATE
APOSTLES FOR TODAY
FEBRUARY 2026
Luca Liverani
Peace in the society
Russia's brutal invasion of Ukraine. America's unpredictable estrangement from Europe, between disengagement in defense, delegitimization of international organizations, expansionist aims on Greenland. The harrowing massacres of civilians in the Holy Land. Everything seems to threaten the peace the West has enjoyed for 80 years.Everything around us tells us that rearmament is inevitable, that arsenals must be replenished, that even the return to compulsory military service must be reconsidered. Obviously, this will come at the cost of cuts to public resources for healthcare (despite post-pandemic promises), welfare, education, and research. A nearly unanimous chorus, cutting across political lines. And anyone who expresses doubts is branded "deluded and unrealistic," at best. Or "Putinist" or "pro-Hamas," at worst. A single, gloomy, and resigned line of thought that challenges everyone's conscience. Especially that of Christians, raised on the pontifical teaching that, for over a century, has warned that "war is an adventure with no return" and that the industrial development of the defense sector is a "market of death."
Naturally, then, we return to the source of our faith. And in its astonishing relevance, the Gospel says things much more realistic than some would have us believe. Among many, the most direct is perhaps the passage from the
Sermon on the Mount on the Beatitudes. The evangelist writes (Matthew 5:9): "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God." Jesus' peace, we know, is not just the absence of war. It is love for one's neighbor, harmony with the Creator, the joy of feeling loved as children. But it is also—without a doubt—the absence of conflict.
And so "peacebuilding," I believe, is a complex but concrete and realistic guideline that also applies to politics, and it's no coincidence that Popes often define it as "the highest form of charity." A much more realistic approach, then, than those who believe war can resolve international disputes. For at least 80 years, the facts show, no war has made a country better than before.
Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Libya... A long list of failures, lives destroyed,
regions condemned to chronic violence and chronic instability.
And so it is false, misleading, and unrealistic to repeat, "If you want peace, prepare for war." The writer Vegetius wrote this in the 4th century AD: "Si vis pacem, para bellum." Nearly 2,000 years later, this maxim is still used, even by some governments, to justify massive military investments in the eyes of taxpayers. It is a maxim that must be contextualized within the culture of the time, that of a great civilization of the past, founded, however, on violence and slavery.
The Romans themselves knew this well. Let's not forget that the "Pax Romana" was very different from today's concept of peace. The Romans themselves knew this well. "Ubi solitudinem faciunt, pacem appellant," where they make a desert, they call it peace, wrote Tacitus in 97 AD. And so "building peace by preparing for war" is an interpretation that not only ignores two millennia of Christianity and many centuries of humanist culture and civilized conquests, but is also out of touch with reality. Simply because "deterrence," the fear of an adversary armed to the teeth, no longer works, assuming it ever worked. The facts speak for themselves.
It's worth looking at some numbers to understand the true extent of global military investment, which—just to look at the latest high-profile cases in the Euro-Mediterranean area—has failed to prevent Russia's invasion of Ukraine or Israel's disproportionate reaction to the Hamas terrorist massacre.
Let's consider the bloody Russian-Ukrainian conflict. Let's set aside, for a moment, the eight years of "lowintensity" conflict in Russian-speaking areas, ignored and underestimated by the international community. Let's limit ourselves to the tragic date of February 24, 2022, when columns of Russian armored vehicles headed for Kiev, aiming to decapitate the unwelcome government and replace it with a pro-Russian one. A scenario, incidentally, recently revisited in Latin America. The Russian "blitzkrieg," however, failed and, with massive NATO support, transformed into a devastating war of position, which is still ongoing. If deterrence theory were to lend credence, the Kremlin would have decided to attack a de facto European country by taking advantage of a weakness in the Atlantic Alliance. But is that so? Not at all.
To assess the scale of military investments by the two opposing sides at the time of the invasion, we can rely on the valuable work of SIPRI, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. This authoritative research center tells us that in 2022, Russia spent $86 billion on its armed forces. Nearly triple Italy's $33 billion, for comparison. More than the United Kingdom's $68 billion, Germany's $56 billion, and France's $54 billion. And the United States? At the time of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Washington spent $877 billion on its armed forces.
Yes, ten times Moscow's spending. Not only that, but NATO as a whole—America plus Europe—had allocated a whopping $1.232 trillion to its armed forces. That is, fourteen times Russia's spending, 54% of all global military spending. An overwhelming military force, then. But it did not in the least prevent the Kremlin,
evidently guided by different strategic considerations, from carrying out its brutal aggression against Ukraine.
And today? Russia has multiplied its investments exponentially, thanks to its energy resources and China's assistance, which have allowed it to withstand the wave of Western economic sanctions. In 2024, Moscow nearly doubled its military spending, to €149 billion, a staggering 7.4% of gross domestic product. The growth in the NATO area is similar: the United States is approaching the impressive figure of €997 billion, or €3.45 billion of GDP. And the Atlantic Alliance as a whole is €1,506 billion, €274 billion more in two years. An impressive deterrent. It's a shame that no one today would have the intellectual honesty to claim we live in a safer world. Clearly, weapons don't create security.
Deterrence has also failed in Israel, which in 2024 spent €23 billion, a full 4.5% of its GDP, more than its American ally. For years, addressing the Palestinian issue solely with a muscular and repressive approach, rather than seeking a laborious and complex political and diplomatic solution, has led to devastating results for
all to see. First, the success of the Islamists of Hamas, initially cynically and recklessly supported by the Tel Aviv government, in an effort to delegitimize the Palestinian National Authority. Then came the massacre of October 7th. Then came Israel's devastating response, including attempts at ethnic cleansing and accusations of genocide. This has had repercussions throughout the Middle East, and tragic resurgences of anti-Semitism around the world.
There are calls for rearmament, as if the arsenals were empty. Some have calculated that 600 nuclear warheads would be enough to wipe out the entire human race on Earth. Today, there are 12,000, twenty times as many, stored in nine countries. Overflowing warehouses of lethal weapons have failed to slow the wars in recent years. None of the governments that have unleashed bloody conflicts, massacres of civilians, and destruction of economies and ecosystems have been intimidated by the presence of missiles, tanks, and fighter-bombers
in opposing countries. And so, in an era that, for the first time in human history, has the scientific knowledge, technology, and resources to combat hunger, poverty, epidemics, underdevelopment, and the climate crisis, governments continue to divert funds from the construction of a peaceful society.
Precisely at a time when "warmongering" thinking marginalizes those who hold different views, citizens who care about peace—Christians in particular—are called to make an extra effort to change a widespread culture that views rearmament as vital for states. This is the war economy. An approach that contrasts with the one
wisely chosen in Italy by the founders of the Republic after World War II. Article 11 of the Italian Constitution states: "Italy repudiates war as an instrument of aggression against the freedom of other peoples and as a means of resolving international disputes." War is a last resort, never a political instrument like any other.
The truth is that armed conflicts don't arise out of nowhere, due to the madness or wickedness of the autocrat in power, but are the consequence of specific political choices, adopted globally: unbridled capitalism, imperialism, neocolonialism, resource hoarding, climate change. Ever-decreasing funding for diplomacy, the fight against inequality, and the fight against global warming. Ever-increasing money for the purchase of instruments of death and destruction. Then, when the outcomes of these policies lead to the predictable outbreak of conflict, we are told that "war is inevitable." A lie. All the popes have been repeating it for decades, essentially unheard, calling the economic system that seeks only profit a "structure of sin" and the military industrial sector a "market of death."
As Christian "peacemakers," we can and must begin to spread a different narrative. To tell the story that war does not solve problems, but worsens them. That deterrence doesn't work, but only serves to enrich the arms industry. That in our communities of believers, we cannot simply take from the Magisterium what we like, but must also consider peace as an inescapable commitment on a par with solidarity, the defense of life, and the protection of creation. We can collaborate on the many initiatives that contribute to building a more just and
war-free society. We must work against poverty and inequality, for the environment, people's rights, health, development cooperation, ethical finance, and disarmament.
I can tell you how, in my life as a reporter, I have met, in very diverse and unpredictable contexts, wonderful people whose actions have enabled them to shine a light in the darkness of suffering and pain. Women and men, young and old. Christians, Jews, even non-believers, who sometimes have much to teach, through their actions, to those of us who don't always live our faith consistently.
They are witnesses who rightfully are peacemakers, people who have been fighting for years against nuclear rearmament, against the arms race, because the money spent on this could be used much more effectively to address and resolve what the United Nations calls the "Sustainable Development Goals," for which there is never enough money: hunger, disease, illiteracy, gender inequality, the climate crisis, because we prefer to invest in war.
It is a people of women and men of good will who tenaciously organize, demonstrate, lobby politicians, and strive for cultural change every day. Peacemakers capable of organizing even large-scale anti-war demonstrations in the streets, and at the same time setting up "peace caravans" to collect aid and deliver it to the bombed civilian populations.
And, moreover, we can pray; we must not stop praying. With tenacity and obstinacy. To ask God for the impossible. So that, through the intercession of Mary, Queen of Peace, he may touch the hearts of the powerful and convert them, caress and comfort the victims of war, and free us from the evil of war.
Suggestions for community reflection:
1. How can we make the teaching and witness of peacemakers relevant today?
2. Today, how can we be a sign of peace and goodness?
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