(Die Tagespost).
For the cardinal , the war in Ukraine in particular is a setback for the reputation of Christians in the world: The particular tragedy is that “Christians are waging war against Christians, and even Orthodox people are killing each other. This is the sad opposite of the ecumenism of the martyrs.” Because the persecution of Christians in today’s world does not separate Christians, but unites them. “But if, conversely, Christians wage war against Christians,” said Koch, “this is an extremely bad message for all of Christianity.”
The Prefect of the Dicastery for Christian Unity believes that negotiations between Russia and Ukraine are necessary “if their goal is a just peace”. It is not enough, the Cardinal stresses, “to conduct negotiations simply to find peace in the sense of the silence of the weapons. Since both sides have different ideas of peace, it must be made clear that negotiations must be about a just peace in Ukraine”.