ROME — The archpriest of Saint Peter’s Basilica, Cardinal Mauro Gambetti, insisted Monday on Ukraine’s right to defend itself against invading Russian troops.
Speaking on Italian television, Cardinal Gambetti reaffirmed the legitimacy of Ukrainian military action, asserting that self-defense is “one of the cornerstones” of Catholic moral teaching.
The cardinal’s pronouncement came just weeks after Pope Francis declared there is “no such thing as a just war,” despite nearly two millennia of consistent Church teaching to the contrary.
It is difficult to establish the limits to legitimate self-defense, Gambetti continued, “only those who are on the field perhaps manage to moderate and intervene according to what is really useful and necessary.”
New Cardinal, Italian Mauro Gambetti, Custos of the Sacred Convent of Assisi (R) receives his biretta hat from Pope Francis during a consistory to create 13 new cardinals, on November 28, 2020 at St. Peter’s Basilica in The Vatican. (FABIO FRUSTACI/POOL/AFP via Getty)
At the same time, the cardinal noted the Vatican addresses the war above all “on a transcendent level” and “our commitment is that of incessant prayer so that conflicts in the world are put to an end.”
“The consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary is the most explicit sign of this commitment, of gathering together all invisible forces,” he added, in reference to the pope’s March 25 consecration of Russia and Ukraine.
“Coexistence between human beings in peace is possible only if there is a principle of transcendent order that unifies,” he said.
“It is linked again because among the prophecies of Fatima there was the warning of Our Lady who said that if Russia was not consecrated, we would have been in constant conflict,” the cardinal stated. “It had already been done in the past, this time this desire was reiterated even more strongly.”