As war rages and ecocide spreads, the Pope’s call for peace and planetary justice demands urgent action from Europe and the world
Today, a big part of the world is experiencing immense sorrow due to the loss of Pope Francis, a voice that called relentlessly for peace, for the victims of genocide in Gaza, for our planet groaning under the weight of ecocide, and for a Europe that stands at a crossroads: one path leading to solidarity, the other to the abyss of perpetual war.
Pope Francis, in his 2024 Easter message, pleaded: “Let us not allow the strengthening winds of war to blow on Europe and the Mediterranean.” Yet even as he spoke these words, Gaza burned. Children were buried under rubble. Hospitals became graveyards. This is not war – it is extermination. And it is funded, armed, and legitimised by the same powers that now demand Europe’s rearmament under the guise of security.
The European Commission’s “Rearm Europe” programme is not a shield. It is a surrender to never-ending death. It diverts billions from green transitions, healthcare, and poverty eradication to feed the insatiable appetite of the war machine. While our rivers choke on microplastics and our forests burn, Europe’s leaders choose missiles over medicine, drones over drought relief. This is not strength. It is a moral and ecological suicide pact.
On this International Earth Day, we must speak the truth: the ecocide in Gaza, in Ukraine, in every conflict zone, is a mirror of our planetary crisis. The bombs that shred flesh also poison soil. The tanks that crush homes also accelerate climate collapse. There is no “green” militarisation. There is only complicity in destruction.
DiEM25 refuses this fatalism. We demand:
- An immediate arms embargo on Israel and all states committing war crimes
- The redirection of military budgets to an updated European Green New Deal – renewable energy, agroecology, and climate asylum
- A Europe of open borders and shared sovereignty, where security comes from hospitals, not F-35s
Pope Francis stated shortly before his passing: “Let us make room for the light of the Risen Lord! And we will become builders of hope for the world.” Peace is not a drone strike. It is the courage to disarm. The courage to say: No more Gaza. No more ecocide. No more war profiteers.
Europe, wake up! The earth is crying out. The martyrs of Gaza are crying out. History will judge us by whose cries we heard – and whose we ignored.
Another Europe is possible. Let us build it, before it’s too late.
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