Bishop speeches at Christmas: "We got used to violence in deeds and words remarkably quickly."

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St. Martin Cathedral in Mainz

Photo: Manngold / IMAGO

In their Christmas sermons, the Catholic bishops dealt with the war in Ukraine and current social issues.

According to the Bishop of Speyer, »the use of power and violence, and if necessary also weapons«, is necessary »to defend innocent life, human and international rights, dignity and freedom.« Even those learned this this year » who have always had a different opinion politically," said Karl-Heinz-Wiesemann after the text of the speech that had been distributed in advance on Sunday in the Speyer Cathedral.

"The truth about the need for violent defense of the otherwise defenseless - it hits the drama of man in this world."

With regard to the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine, Bishop Kohlgraf of Mainz said that there had been a lot of discussion about war, defense and help for a beleaguered people who were threatened with annihilation.

Christians too have become more sober when assessing the right of an attacked people to defend themselves.

"But I also think that we got used to violence in deeds and words remarkably quickly." That also applies to everyday interactions.

The Limburg bishop and chairman of the German Bishops' Conference, Georg Bätzing, called for peace initiatives in the Ukraine war.

"Even if the support of the country, which was invaded in violation of international law, must continue with all the necessary goods, peace initiatives are already needed now," he said on Sunday in his Christmas sermon in Limburg Cathedral.

The war and the brutal violations of human rights sow hatred and, according to the bishop, will "provoke violence again and again for generations to come." Therefore one has to ask how the seeds of peace can be sown now.

According to Bätzing, the individual Christian in Germany is also in demand here, because after all, many people from the Ukraine as well as from Russia live here.

"Let's approach them and talk to them about light and common perspectives in the midst of the darkness of war and destruction," appealed Bätzing.

On Sunday morning, the President of the Church in Hesse and Nassau, Volker Jung, recalled “the community-building power of the Christmas message”.

“As humans, we depend on one another.

We are destined to be there for each other," he said on Christmas Day after a message in the service in Frankfurt's Katharinenkirche.

This is indicated by the biblical story of the birth of Jesus.

»The child in the crèche depends on its parents being there for it.

Mary and Joseph depend on each other and on others being there for them.« The message therefore comes from Jesus Christ and his life: »Be there for one another!

Seek peace on earth.” The area of ​​the Evangelical Church in Hesse and Nassau (EKHN) also includes parts of Rhineland-Palatinate.

In the opinion of Bishop Stephan Ackermann of Trier, the news and images that have been coming from Ukraine every day for months mean that there is good news: that the Russian aggressor has finally come to terms and that peace negotiations can begin.

How much one would wish that the ruined cities of Mariupol, Cherson and Odessa could rejoice, said Ackermann, according to the text of the speech on Sunday in Trier Cathedral.

»But this wish remains a vision for the future, which we hope will come true in 2023.«

The President of the Evangelical Church in the Rhineland, Thorsten Latzel, said in his sermon in Düsseldorf on Christmas Eve that the Christmas story calls for active help in the here and now.

»It is important that we help when people from Ukraine, Syria and Afghanistan flee to us who also do not know where to put their child or where to get diapers for them.

Maria is then called Djamila or Oleksandra.

They often travel without their 'Josef' because he wasn't allowed to leave the country and had to fight.«

late/dpa