As Vatican News’ German coverage reported on Feb. 20, the official representative of the Protestant Church in Germany (EKD) Friedrich Kramer, who is also the regional bishop in Central Germany, has sharply criticized Defense Minister Boris Pistorius. Kramer argued that Pistorius should weigh his words on Germany’s rearmament more carefully. In a guest article, coauthored with Franz-Josef Overbeck for Christ & Welt, which appears on Feb. 21 as a supplement to the weekly Die Zeit, Kramer writes that for Pistorius to say that Germany must become “war-ready” is “fundamentally wrong, because he no longer makes it clear that it is about defense…. The language must be precise, because war is quickly brought about and that is irresponsible.”
Vatican News’ goes on: “It is understandable that Pistorius wants to make Germany capable of defending itself in view of the threat created by the Russian attack on Ukraine, said Kramer. ‘But “war-ready” does not speak of a reaction, but of an action, and this has the potential not to deter, but to threaten. This is unacceptable.’”
