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Germany’s Catholic bishops have acknowledged that churches share responsibility for “war-mongering” in the build up to the First World War.
In a statement, the bishops said the Great War’s dimensions were “shocking”.
The conflict from 1914 to 1918 left 16 million dead and 21 million wounded.
The centenary of the outbreak of the war was on July 28.
The German bishops said the conflict was of “previously unimaginable proportions”, in which poison gas and other weapons of mass destruction were used.
It added that Europe’s Christian Churches had also played their part in “war-mongering” at the outbreak of fighting.
“Although the Catholic Church had distanced itself from nineteenth-century nationalism by virtue of its universal character, many bishops, priests and faithful took the side of those welcoming the war as a chance for spiritual and moral renewal,” they said.
“We know today that many people, including those high up in the Church, brought guilt upon themselves, failing in the national blindness to perceive the suffering of the war’s victims, and realising too late the consequences of absolute loyalty to their respective nations.”
In their statement the bishops paid tribute to Catholic priests and military chaplains who worked for peace and reconciliation, and to Pope Benedict XV, who “repeatedly urged” the warring parties to go to the negotiating table rather than take up arms.
Nationalism, if taken to extremes, still posed a threat to peace today, the German bishops stated.
“Our times demand an effective response in asserting the common interests of the human family against destructive self-interest,” they said.
Pope Francis referred to World War I in his Sunday address at the Vatican on July 27, one day before the centenary.
The Pontiff begged humanity not to repeat the mistakes of the past.
He also lamented the modern conflict between Israel and Palestine and the violence in Ukraine and Iraq.
The Pope begged for the world to avoid the carnage that took place a century ago, which then-Pope Benedict XV called a “useless massacre”.
“Brothers and sisters, never war, never war!” Francis pleaded.
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