"Ethical export policy is a myth," states the WPF.

Of the 32 wars of this century that the WPF analyzed all of them but one received weapons from the leading arms exporting nations - U.S., Russia, France, U.K., China, Germany, Israel, Italy, Netherlands, Ukraine, and Spain - even when serious violations of international humanitarian law and human rights abuses were clearly on display.

U.S. weapons to the Israeli government's ongoing bombing of civilians in Gaza is current tragic example.

Rivers of mostly innocent civilian blood doesn't deter the ongoing shipments of instruments of death.

Where there's a huge profit to be made, and power to be gained, any serious consideration of morality is virtually nonexistent among the arms exporting countries.

And to a lesser degree it is important to note that some less affluent nations are also involved in the deadly arms business.

Corporations that are profiting the most from the immoral business of weapons production and sales are the U.S. companies Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, Boeing, Northrop Grumman, General Dynamics, BAE Systems (U.K.), Norinco (China), AVIC (China).

If weapons production, and subsequent weapons sales were to end, wars and armed conflicts would virtually come to a halt. Wars can't be waged without weapons.

And think of all the good that could be done, both domestically and globally, if we ever come to our senses and transfer the vast amounts of money spent on weapons of war to building instruments of peace.

Imagine seeing all of that money being used to ensure that every single person on the planet would receive basic human services like adequate food, decent housing, clean water and sanitation, health care, education, life-enhancing jobs with a living wage.

And with these huge funds we could totally and quickly move from dirty fossil fuels to clean energy for our health, the health of our common earth home, and the health of future generations yet to born.

But very sadly, this wonderful scenario is not on the radar screens of the vast majority of rich and powerful individuals, corporations and nations.

At the Second Vatican Council the world's Catholic bishops, in union with S. Pope Paul VI declared:

"While extravagant sums are being spent for the furnishing of ever new weapons, an adequate remedy cannot be provided for the multiple miseries afflicting the whole modern world.

"Disagreements between nations are not really and radically healed; on the contrary, they spread infection to other parts of the earth.

"New approaches based on reformed attitudes must be taken to remove this trap and to emancipate the world from its crushing anxiety through the restoration of genuine peace.

"Therefore, we say it again: the arms race is an utterly treacherous trap for humanity, and one which ensnares the poor to an intolerable degree."

As dioceses, parishes and individuals we need to tirelessly urge national leaders to finally move away from war preparation and warmaking to nonviolent peacemaking.

It is bread, and not bombs, that humanity is hungry for.

Catholics, other Christians, and all people of faith in the God of peace who are in anyway connected with the arms industry should seriously pray and think about leaving the business of making weapons.

It is truly the morally right thing to do.

Better to have far less money and more peace of soul. With an open heart and mind please prayerfully consider this powerful Pope Francis video.

https://youtu.be/hUtxTvdSF_4?si=P7NIEDuGxq71iKUM

In the actual words of one of the Catholic Church's greatest champions of nonviolence and peace, St Francis of Assisi, let us greet everyone with "Pace e Bene" (Peace and all good)!

• Tony Magliano is an internationally syndicated Catholic social justice and peace columnist. He is available to speak at parish and diocesan venues. To invite Tony, contact him at tmag6@comcast.net.

And what has been the overall response to all of this genocidal carnage? For the most part: Silence. Ongoing deadly silence!

The deadly terrorist attacks of Hamas killing 1,200 Jews - including 33 Israeli children - was indeed a very sad tragedy, but the ongoing six-month Israeli military offensive against all Palestinians in Gaza - including Palestinian Christians - amounts to collective punishment which is forbidden by international law. And is nothing short of genocide!

Pope Francis prophetically said: "I will never tire of reiterating my call, addressed in particular to those who have political responsibility: ‘stop the bombs and missiles now, end hostile stances [everywhere]!'"

• So then why all of the silence from our US Catholic Church pulpits?
• Why is the Catholic press so timid here?
• Why are corporate board members not deciding to end the support of arms to Israel?
• Why are company stockholders not demanding an end to corporate support of the Israeli genocide? And why has the U.S. Congress recently voted to hand over to Israel $26 billion in military weaponry to keep fueling the flames of genocide in Gaza?

Why is there so little moral outrage?

It's like so many of the other atrocities being suffered by the poor and vulnerable - that is, a lack of interest among well-off and safe corporations, governments, and individuals who lack genuine compassionate care, and the moral courage to stand up and declare: Enough! Enough of all this evil!

Well, not so with many college students, and in some cases, faculties together with them, on dozens of U.S. university campuses standing up and declaring enough of all this evil!

They are doing what every person of good will - especially followers of the nonviolent Jesus - should be doing, namely: protesting against violence, injustice, complicity with evil, and genocide.

Protests that started at Columbia University in New York City have spread to many colleges and universities across the U.S. and in other countries.

Contrary to critics who claim the students are violent, the truth is that student demonstrators are overwhelmingly nonviolent in the face of unwarranted police arrests and hostile university administrations.

Yet, a favorite tactic of those pushing for more U.S. bombs for Israel to drop on Palestinian women and children is to brand the nonviolent students and as "anti-Semitic."

That charge is a smokescreen designed to coverup the genocide, and project a false guilt upon the morally courageous protesting students - some of whom are now facing suspension and even expulsion.

In fact, Jewish Voice for Peace has stated its full support for the college protestors.

All of this is reminiscent of the 1960's and early 1970's student protests against the U.S. war in Vietnam. Back then the protesting students were called "communist sympathizers."

I stand with the student and faculty protestors mainly because their demands are consistent with the nonviolent Gospel of Jesus Christ and Catholic social teaching which insists upon peacemaking and social justice for all.

Student protestors are justly calling for an end to arms shipments to Israel, a permanent cease-fire, and university divestment of funds from companies that support the Israeli government's merciless war against the Palestinians.

Encouragingly, in the 1980's Columbia University students successfully pressured the university to divest from the apartheid regime that was in control of South Africa.

Most appropriately, let us remember and live the words of the late Jewish Nazi concentration camp survivor and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Elie Wiesel:

"I swore never to be silent whenever and wherever human beings endure suffering and humiliation. We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented."

• Tony Magliano is an internationally syndicated Catholic social justice and peace columnist. He is available to speak at diocesan or parish gatherings. Tony can be reached at tmag6@comcast.net.

When we consider that our Lord Jesus, our Blessed Mother Mary, St. Joseph, the twelve apostles, and the very first disciples were practicing religious Jews.

We also need to consider that the Christian New Testament is firmly rooted in the Jewish Scriptures of the Old Testament.

Having considered, how can we not have but the highest respect for Judaism.

But having the necessary deep respect for Judaism does not therefore mean that Christians must also have respect for the unjust policies of the state of Israel toward Palestinians.

Opposing Israeli government injustice is not antisemitic. On the contrary, it calls Israel to a high moral standard in the spirit of the great Jewish prophets.

Human rights

Sadly, decades of human rights violations have occurred.

Violations like denying adequate supplies of water, blocking access to family farms and olive groves, as well as building Israeli settlements on stolen Palestinian land.

These are among the injustices Palestinians have long suffered in the Occupied Territories, especially in Gaza which is known as the world's largest outdoor prison.

The Oct. 7, 2023, brutal terrorist attacks by Hamas upon Israel, resulting in the deaths of approximately 1,200 Israeli children, women and men, was not right either.

Combined with the abduction of more than 200 Israeli hostages it is unconscionable and deserving of our condemnation.

But Israel's brutal response, resulting in over 30,000 deaths of mostly innocent unarmed civilian Palestinians in Gaza is also an act of terrorism.

It is an even worse terrorism than that suffered by Israel.

More 11,500 Palestinian children have been killed from Israeli bombs and missiles.

These were mostly supplied by the U.S. and several other nations resulting in large profits for numerous arms manufacturers.

Israel's determination to kill every single member of Hamas has resulted in the collective punishment of all Gazan Palestinians.

Hospitals, schools, neighbourhoods, and churches have not been spared from Israel's wholesale non-stop bombing.

Most Palestinians in Gaza have little or no access to clean water and sanitation, food, medicine and fuel due to Israel's blockade. United Nations experts have accused Israel of "intentionally starving" Palestinians in Gaza.

Genocide

Collective punishment is both gravely immoral, and an act against international law.

The International Court of Justice has ordered Israel to ensure that all vital supplies are to immediately be made available to every needy Gazan. And that all efforts to end hostilities are to be made.

However, Israel is ignoring international law and moral law.

Having suffered so terribly from the Holocaust, one would think that committing large scale murder of innocent children, women and men would be unthinkable for Israel.

Yet, almost unbelievably, Israel is committing genocide - yes, genocide - upon the innocents.

Furthermore, Israel is not even following the Mosaic principle of reciprocal justice, that is, measure for measure which states "eye for eye, tooth for tooth" (Exodus 21:23-27).

Instead, Israel has inflicted far more death and destruction upon mostly innocent Palestinians in Gaza, than it suffered from the deadly attacks of Hamas.

And of course, for Christians we must take to heart, and put into action, the most relevant words of the Jewish Jesus, the Christ, the Lord:

"You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.' But I say to you, offer no [violent] resistance to one who is evil.

When someone strikes you on [your] right cheek, turn the other one to him as well. …

You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbour and hate your enemy. But I say to you, love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you".

Pray for Peace

Therefore, let us tirelessly pray for peace in Gaza, and everywhere.

And let us unite with Pope Francis in his urgent call: "Stop the bombs and missiles now!"

• Tony Magliano is an internationally syndicated Catholic social justice and peace columnist.

On Nov. 11 the United States, the United Kingdom, New Zealand and several other nations will observe the 100th anniversary of that historic day when the warring nations of the world finally stopped all the killing, injury and destruction which filled the years between 1914 and 1918.

On Dec. 7, 1914 Pope Benedict XV pleaded with the warring parties to observe a Christmas truce.

He asked, "that the guns may fall silent at least upon the night the angels sang."

He was hoping that such a truce would lead to sincere peace negotiations.

Tragically, his plea was officially ignored.

But on Christmas, opposing soldiers along various spots on the Western Front inspiringly declared their own unofficial truce.

And a courageous Catholic American, Ben Salmon, walking in the footsteps of the nonviolent Jesus, refused to kill.

He was sentenced to death, which was later commuted to a lengthy prison sentence of hard labour.

War - for what purpose

World War I caused over 8 million military deaths.

The civilian death toll was even worse at approximately 13 million - largely due to starvation, exposure, disease, military encounters and massacres.

World War I - "the war to end all wars" - instead became a precursor to the even more horrible World War II - the worst war in human history - and scores of wars since ever since.

Honestly, for what?

And the veterans who survive wars very often come home with serious physical, mental and spiritual wounds.

Why do Christians allow our government to put them in harm's way?

Shouldn't followers of the nonviolent Jesus demand an end to this sacrilege - the sacrilege of war and war preparation?

Adequately taking care of veterans' needs, like mental and physical health care and housing, is a moral imperative that demands much more funding.

Deemphasise nationalistic fervour

But for the sake of helping create a culture which opposes war and war preparation, a culture which decries sending more young men and women into one senseless war after another, we need to deemphasise the nationalistic fervour associated with Veterans Day, similarly observed as Remembrance Day in the British Commonwealth, and instead recapture the prayerful and peaceful meaning that was central to what this day was originally called: Armistice Day.

In a June 4, 1926 congressional resolution officially recognizing the end of World War I, Congress declared that the recurring anniversary of the day when hostilities ceased "should be commemorated with thanksgiving and prayer and exercises designed to perpetuate peace through good will and mutual understanding between nations."

On Nov. 11, Armistice Day, let's say no to more war, and demand justice and peace at home and abroad.

• Tony Magliano is an internationally syndicated social justice and peace columnist. He is available to speak at diocesan or parish gatherings. Tony can be reached at tmag@zoominternet.net.

Laudato Si' is medieval Italian for "Praise be to you."

It is a quote from St. Francis of Assisi's beautiful Canticle of the Creatures: "Praise be to you, my Lord, through our Sister, Mother Earth, who sustains and governs us, and who produces various fruit with coloured flowers and herbs."

Pope Francis, who took his papal name from St Francis, continues to be deeply inspired by this patron saint of ecology. So much so, that in 2015 he wrote the first ever environmental encyclical letter titled "Laudato Si', on Care for Our Common Home."

"St Francis of Assisi reminds us," writes the pope, "that our common home is like a sister with whom we share our life and a beautiful mother who opens her arms to embrace us. …

"This sister now cries out to us because of the harm we have inflicted on her by our irresponsible use and abuse of the goods with which God has endowed her. We have come to see ourselves as her lords and masters, entitled to plunder her at will."

Pope Francis explains, "Each year hundreds of millions of tons of waste are generated, much of it non-biodegradable, highly toxic and radioactive, from homes and businesses, construction and demolition sites, clinical, electronic and industrial sources. The earth, our home, is becoming increasingly like an immense pile of filth."

The Holy Father then weighs in on climate change.

Ignoring the weak scientific claims of those who deny the climate is changing and that the earth is warming - due principally to human pollution. He writes, "A very solid scientific consensus indicates that we are presently witnessing a disturbing warming of the climatic system."

Indeed, the scientific consensus is very solid.

According to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), "97 percent or more of actively publishing climate scientists agree: Climate-warming trends over the past century are very likely due to human activities."

"The problem is dangerously aggravated by a model of development based on the intensive use of fossil fuels" - that is coal, oil, and gas.

The pope urgently calls for global conversion from the use of these fossil fuels to "clean renewable energy" - wind, solar and geothermal.

Francis astutely observes that living comfortable lifestyles far removed from the poor, often leads to a "numbing of conscience" and to a cold, impersonal analysis.

"At times this attitude exists side by side with a ‘green rhetoric.'

"Today, however, we have to realize that a true ecological approach always becomes a social approach; it must integrate questions of justice in debates on the environment so as to hear both the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor."

Observing the connection between the degradation of the environment and war, Francis writes, "It is foreseeable that, once certain resources have been depleted, the scene will be set for new wars."

The earth and humanity are in trouble.

The dangers of climate change and accompanying global warming are nothing to take lightly. The scientific evidence is overwhelming. We don't have much time left to wake up.

Therefore, this all makes Laudato Si' Week a week that should not be ignored. Let's commit to celebrating it as soon as possible.

Watch the moving film featuring Pope Francis called "The Letter: A message for our Earth"

Share Pope Francis' Laudato Si'.

Pray with the Laudato Si' Prayer Book.

Become a Laudato Si' animator.

Pick up the challenge: read the encyclical. It will inspire.

• Tony Magliano is an internationally syndicated Catholic social justice and peace columnist. He is available to speak at diocesan or parish gatherings. Tony can be reached at tmag6@comcast.net.

He said the conflicts reminded him of the World War II Allied military landings at Normandy, France.

"It was the beginning of the fall of Nazism, it's true.

"But how many boys were left on the beaches in Normandy?

"They say, 30,000. …

"Who thinks of those boys?

"War sows all of this.

"That is why you, who are journalists, please be pacifists, speak out against wars, fight against war. I ask you as a brother. Thank you."

Pope Francis' heartfelt request to journalists to be pacifists touched my heart.

Many years ago, as a young man, I found myself in U.S. military basic combat training at Fort Dix, New Jersey.

While firing my M-16 weapon at life-like pop-up targets, it occurred to me the army was not training me to hit targets, but instead to kill some poor guy like me in a far-off country who got caught up in the propaganda of his own country's war machine.

I came to fully realize this was all wrong. And I knew that in my desire to imitate the nonviolent Jesus, I could kill no one.

I spoke to my drill sergeant about my deep anti-war feelings and my desire to apply for conscientious objector status.

He urged me to wait until I completed basic combat training and apply for CO status when I arrived at Fort Benjamin Harrison, Indianapolis, for Advanced Individual Training.

I'd previously trained as a journalist, and at Fort Harrison, I was receiving additional training as a broadcaster for Armed Forces Radio in Germany. But that exciting future did not deter me from seeking CO status.

My broadcast instructors tried to convince me that the chances of my having to shoot someone from a radio station were extremely remote. However, I knew my role as a military journalist and radio disc jockey would be to boost the morale of those who would be pulling the triggers and dropping the bombs.

I knew that I could have nothing to do with this unholy enterprise.

Although the Holy Father's inflight press conference plea, "You who are journalists, please be pacifists, speak out against wars, fight against war," was on that occasion directed to journalists, it is reasonable to believe that his pacifism plea is also extended to all people of goodwill.

And it is important to clarify that pacifism does not mean lying down and allowing brutal aggressors to kill and destroy.

Quite the contrary!

Pacifism, or the preferred terms "nonviolent resistance" and "active nonviolence", is courageously committed to using the numerous nonviolent, highly effective tools available to limit and even stop armed aggression.

For example, please see Pax Christi International's Catholic Nonviolence Initiative and The Nonviolent Peaceforce.

The late preeminent theologian and biblical scholar, Fr John McKenzie said, "If Jesus does not reject violence for any reason, we do not know anything about Jesus. Jesus taught us not how to kill but how to die."

On September 7, 2013, countless believers across the globe and over 100,000 people in St Peter's Square prayed with Pope Francis for peace in Syria and throughout the world.

During the four-hour prayer service at St Peter's, the Holy Father said, "We bring about the rebirth of Cain in every act of violence and in every war. … We have perfected our weapons, [while] our conscience has fallen asleep, and we have sharpened our ideas to justify ourselves. As if it were normal, we continue to sow destruction, pain, death!

"Violence and war lead only to death; they speak of death!

"Violence and war are the language of death."

• Tony Magliano is an internationally syndicated Catholic social justice and peace columnist. He is available to speak at diocesan or parish gatherings. Tony can be reached at tmag6@comcast.net.

As you quickly turn around, you see several armed men firing their weapons into the assembly. And with added horror, you see numerous fellow parishioners lying dead. Amid screams and cries, people rush toward the exits, running for their lives. Some escape, while others are shot and killed.

The assailants then proceed to burn the church to the ground.

May this never happen to you. But tragic scenes similar to this, as well as other brutal forms of persecution, are happening to fellow Christians in many countries throughout much of the world.

In the just released 2021 annual report "More Precious than Gold," the international ecumenical organization Open Doors reports that over 360 million Christians live in areas where they are subject to high levels of discrimination and persecution.

The report further highlights that last year, 6,175 Christians were unjustly arrested or imprisoned, 3,829 followers of Christ were abducted for faith-related reasons, 5,110 churches or Christian buildings were attacked, and 5,898 fellow believers in Jesus were murdered for their faith.

The international Catholic assistance organization Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) states in its 2021 "Religious Freedom in the World Report" that in the last two years, the human right of freedom of faith was not respected in 62 countries. And in 42 countries changing or renouncing one's religious affiliation can bring on serious legal and social consequences - even death.

ACN reports that at least 75 per cent of all religiously motivated violence and oppression is suffered by Christians.

The ACN report adds that authoritarian governments have also intensified religious persecution. In some Hindu and Buddhist majority countries in Asia, persecution against religious minorities has increased.

Many places in Africa reflect a worsening situation for Christians, which is due most often to Islamist violence, says Fionn Shiner, press officer for ACN in the UK.

ACN, in their report "Persecuted and Forgotten" states that "Christianity is the world's most persecuted religion." It cites that Islamist violence in Africa is a major cause of persecution. And it highlights that Nigeria is the sad country where most African Christians are killed.

Pope Francis has coined the phrase "polite persecution" to describe how new cultural norms in the West clash with individuals' right to freedom of conscience, attempting to limit religion "to the enclosed precincts of churches, synagogues or mosques.

• Tony Magliano is an internationally syndicated Catholic social justice and peace columnist. He is available to speak at diocesan or parish gatherings. Tony can be reached at tmag6@comcast.net.

The Center for Countering Disinformation, an agency of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine - which advises the president of Ukraine - has compiled a list of over 78 international figures who are accused of promoting so-called "Russian propaganda."

And I happen to be included on that list.

Now that begs the question: Why is an internationally syndicated Catholic social justice and peace columnist on such a list?

Well, I don't exactly know why. But I have a pretty good hunch.

Just a few days before the Russian invasion of Ukraine, I participated in an international Zoom conference hosted by the Schiller Institute - which sought to warn against possible imminent nuclear war and to inspire a fresh non-violent, just, egalitarian approach to the never-ending wars and economic injustices experienced by the world's poor and disenfranchised.

My small contribution was a concise presentation entitled, "War is not inevitable! We have a moral obligation to save Afghans from starving! The need to create a new, human-centred paradigm."

In my presentation, I highlighted the moral necessity of the U.S. - considering its 20-year history of waging war in Afghanistan - to significantly increase emergency and ongoing developmental aid to Afghanistan, ensuring that all Afghans, especially the children, do not starve to death - a tragedy still unfolding.

Additionally, I attempted to highlight the obvious catastrophe of the imminent war between Russia and Ukraine, hoping to help avoid that preventable armed conflict.

Also, I urged for a new economic, political, and societal global model that replaces corporate greed, indifference, and raw military power with total respect for all human life and human dignity.

Some of the speakers participating in this and other Schiller Institute conferences have been intellectually critical of certain aspects of the Ukrainian government, as well as U.S. and NATO designs on Ukraine. For example, the apparent openness of NATO to the future possibility of Ukraine becoming an actual member of their military alliance, even though Ukraine borders the Russian Federation.

So, my hunch is that because I was a participant in a Schiller Institute conference and because in a few of my columns, I have been critical of the U.S. and NATO pumping billions of dollars' worth of weapons into Ukraine - which is helping to fuel the war, not end it, and is lining the pockets of weapon producing corporations like Lockheed Martin, Raytheon and Boeing - Ukraine's Center for Countering Disinformation has decided that I am a promoter of "Russian propaganda."

But truth be told, I am a promoter of the nonviolent Gospel of Jesus Christ!

As illustrated in the war between Russia and Ukraine, armed conflicts, and violence of all sorts, are tools of the devil. Christians need to relearn the Gospel truth that the words and example of the Lord Jesus always clearly oppose the use of violence.

The late preeminent theologian and biblical scholar, Fr John McKenzie said, "If Jesus does not reject violence for any reason, we do not know anything about Jesus. Jesus taught us not how to kill but how to die."

John Paul II powerfully said, "Violence is evil, that violence is unacceptable as a solution to problems, that violence is unworthy of man. Violence is a lie, for it goes against the truth of our faith, the truth of our humanity. Violence destroys what it claims to defend: the dignity, the life, the freedom of human beings."

• Tony Magliano is an internationally syndicated Catholic social justice and peace columnist. He is available to speak at diocesan or parish gatherings. Tony can be reached at tmag6@comcast.net.

The war in Ukraine has greatly contributed to this record high number of displaced persons - with 8 million forced to move out of immediate harm's way while remaining within Ukraine, and an additional 6 million needing to move to one of the surrounding countries, according to the U.N.

But the hostilities in Ukraine are far from the only armed conflicts around the world that are forcibly displacing countless people - in many cases, to run for their lives. Yemen, Tigray/Ethiopia, Afghanistan, Syria, Burkina Faso, Myanmar, Nigeria, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mali, Niger, Haiti, and Central America's Northern Triangle (Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador) are among the world's most violent and poorest countries, which in turn is causing the displacement of masses of fellow human beings.

While extreme poverty, climate change and COVID-19 are major realities forcing 100 million children, women, and men to flee from their homes, they are trumped by armed conflicts and war.

According to the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, the number of people forced to flee their homes has been increasing every year over the past decade, and now stands at the highest level since records began, a trend that can be only reversed by a new, concerted push towards peacemaking.

Last year was notable for the number of conflicts that escalated and new ones that flared; 23 countries, with a combined population of 850 million, faced medium or high-intensity conflicts, according to the World Bank.

U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi warned, "Either the international community comes together to take action to address this human tragedy, resolve conflicts and find lasting solutions, or this terrible trend will continue." Grandi further appealed, "To reverse this trend, the only answer is peace and stability so that innocent people are not forced to gamble between acute danger at home or precarious flight and exile."

While several poor and struggling nations continue to welcome many refugees generously, the U.S., and most other more economically developed nations, allow only small numbers of fleeing brothers and sisters to find refuge within their borders.

This clearly flies in the face of Jesus' insistence that we welcome the stranger (Matthew 25:31-46).

Pope Francis, in his 2022 message for the "World Day of Migrants and Refugees," teaches that in order for the wondrous harmony of God's Kingdom to reign, "We must accept Christ's salvation, his Gospel of love, so that the many forms of inequality and discrimination in the present world may be eliminated."

Francis continues, "No one must be excluded. God's plan is inclusive and gives priority to those living on the existential peripheries. Among them are many migrants and refugees, displaced persons, and victims of trafficking. The Kingdom of God is to be built with them, for without them it would not be the Kingdom that God wants. The inclusion of those most vulnerable is the necessary condition for full citizenship in God's Kingdom."

Furthermore, the Holy Father wisely reminds us that "Building the future with migrants and refugees also means recognizing and valuing how much each of them can contribute to the process of construction"

Here Pope Francis further elaborates that the work of migrants and refugees, "their youth, their enthusiasm and their willingness to sacrifice enrich the communities that receive them. … Enormous potential exists, ready to be harnessed if only given a chance."

Let's give them that chance.

• Tony Magliano is an internationally syndicated Catholic social justice and peace columnist. He is available to speak at diocesan or parish gatherings. Tony can be reached at tmag6@comcast.net.

And even less obvious are war's deadly effects on countless poor people far removed from the fighting. The Russian-Ukrainian war is a case in point.

Normally, Ukraine is a major exporter of grains like wheat and barley to millions of people who are unable to cultivate enough food to survive. But due to the war, its shipping ports are closed.

U.N. World Food Programme Executive Director David Beasley is pleading that "Right now, Ukraine's grain silos are full. At the same time, 44 million people around the world are marching towards starvation. We have to open up these ports so that food can move in and out of Ukraine. The world demands it because hundreds of millions of people globally depend on these supplies.

"We're running out of time and the cost of inaction will be higher than anyone can imagine. I urge all parties involved to allow this food to get out of Ukraine to where it's desperately needed so we can avert the looming threat of famine."

Beasley also reportedly warned if the conflict in Ukraine was not ended, "the world will pay a mighty price and the last thing we want to be doing as the World Food Programme is taking food from hungry children to give to starving children."

War, especially the Russian-Ukrainian war, is also distracting us from adequately addressing the quickly advancing deadly effects of climate change and global warming - largely due to greenhouse gases produced by the continued use of fossil fuels; oil, gas and coal.

In its recent report drawing on the research of thousands of scientists, the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), stated that to get global warming greenhouse gases under control - and thus greatly mitigate the growing fierceness of floods, droughts, wildfires, hurricanes, typhoons and other extreme weather events - governments and corporations need to quickly accelerate a total transition away from fossil fuels to clean renewable energy (like wind and solar) and plant many new forests. If we delay any longer, the catastrophic effects of climate change will be irreversible for us and future generations. The IPCC's report bluntly warns: "It's now or never."

The U.S. and its NATO allies need to stop pumping billions of dollars into the Russian-Ukrainian war - which will not aid in the defeat of the Russian military, but will instead surely guarantee that the war continues - and instead, launch fair, open-minded multilateral negotiations with President Putin, with a genuine desire to obtain an immediate ceasefire, a lasting end to the war, and full speed ahead with grain shipments to the starving!

Just as with the Soviet Union-United States Cuban missile crisis, when honest, genuine negotiations secured a satisfiable settlement and avoided nuclear war, so likewise must the same happen today.

Just day ago, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres insightfully said, "In our time - a time of conflicts, climate crisis and COVID-19 - there is simply no sustainable alternative to dialogue, international cooperation, and global solutions" - a wise and holy strategy right out of Pope Francis' playbook!

• Tony Magliano is an internationally syndicated Catholic social justice and peace columnist. He is available to speak at diocesan or parish gatherings. Tony can be reached at tmag6@comcast.net.

But one disastrous possibility related to climate change most people do not yet seem to realize is that more armed conflicts, new wars and even nuclear war are dangerously becoming more possible.

As reported in a 2020 U.N. press release, Assistant Secretary-General for Europe Miroslav Jenca warned, "The climate emergency is a danger to peace."

He explained that record temperatures, unprecedented sea levels and frequent extreme weather events point to a dangerous future for the planet and for humanity, as lives and livelihoods are threatened, competition increases, and communities are displaced.

Jenca added that while no automatic link exists, climate change exacerbates current conflict risks and is likely to create new ones.

As an example, he cites that in the Middle East and the Horn of Africa, the impacts of climate change have already deepened conflict and provided fuel for extremist groups.

As I write, a breaking story reported by The Guardian highlights how at least 1,000 refugees from countries including Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan are tragically being forced to remain in a freezing woodland borderline between Poland and Belarus with soldiers on both sides forcing them to stay out - and forbidding them to apply for asylum.

While it's uncertain to what extent climate change is playing a role in this tragedy involving refugees from countries immersed in multiple armed conflicts, nonetheless, it is reasonable to note that these nations are also very arid countries where climate change is making growing food and obtaining adequate access to water even more difficult. And in general, we know that climate change has started to, and will, generate countless refugees - who are sadly not welcomed by most of the world's nations.

Now adding to the desperate, unjust situation forced upon these hungry and freezing refugees - including young children - on the Polish-Belarus border, is the possibility that an armed conflict could break out between these two nations.

Since Poland is a member of NATO, and Belarus is a close ally with Russia, it is conceivable this situation could escalate into a war between NATO and Russia - which could devolve into a catastrophic nuclear war.

While this frightening, worst-case scenario is presently unlikely, it does point to how this, or something like this, could really happen in a worsening climate-changing world.

But in this case, not just climate change, but armed conflicts, dysfunctional international relations, and outside powers jockeying for positions to their advantage are all inter-related tragic factors.

Pope Francis, in his famous environmental encyclical letter Laudato Si' ("On Care for our Common Home"), encourages us to live and promote the concept of "integral ecology" - an understanding that everyone and everything is connected, and that "today's problems call for a vision capable of taking into account every aspect of the global crisis".

In light of the Glasgow international climate change gathering of world leaders, and their resulting inadequate commitments to address the growing dangers of climate change, it is most appropriate for us to boldly act on the Holy Father's challenge in Laudato Si' calling us to exert public pressure "to bring about decisive political action. … Unless citizens control political power - national, regional and municipal - it will not be possible to control damage to the environment".

Pricking our consciences, Francis reflects, "What kind of world do we want to leave to those who come after us, to children who are now growing up?"

• Tony Magliano is an internationally syndicated Catholic social justice and peace columnist. He is available to speak at diocesan or parish gatherings. Tony can be reached at tmag6@comcast.net.

How can any honest, moral, objective view conclude that all of the money wasted, goodwill lost, Americans and allies killed and countless innocent poor Afghan children, women and men sacrificed on the altar of war was worth it (see: https://watson.brown.edu/costsofwar/figures).

In his famous speech, "Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence" - delivered exactly one year before his assassination - Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. prophetically declared that "War is not the answer."

He added, "We must find an alternative to war and bloodshed." The war we are fighting "has strengthened the military-industrial complex." This war "has played havoc with our domestic destinies … it has put us in a position of appearing to the world as an arrogant nation. … The judgment of God is upon us today."

These words spoken by Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. concerning the Vietnam War could just as easily be spoken about America's violent involvement in Afghanistan.

Yes indeed, like the Vietnam War, the armed conflict in Afghanistan, not to mention the known wars in places like Iraq, Syria - and God and the CIA only knows where else - "has strengthened the military-industrial complex" once again.

Weapon producing corporations like Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon and General Dynamics reap huge wartime profits at the expense of the poor and war-torn.

At Vatican II, the world's Catholic bishops prophetically declared: "Since peace must to born of mutual trust between nations and not be imposed on them through fear of the available weapons, everyone must labour to put an end at last to the arms race."

Furthermore, Pope Francis has repeatedly added his voice boldly condemning the arms race and those who profit from it.

Imagine the good that would be accomplished and the goodwill that would be established if we converted our weapon plants into factories that construct goods that protect and enhance life - especially the lives of the poor, vulnerable and the life of our common home planet Earth.

Instead of producing instruments designed to kill like M-16 rifles, F-35 Lightning II fighter jets, M1 Abrams tanks, and abortion vacuum aspiration machines - which are instruments of war used against unborn babies - we could massively produce humane products like low-cost house building kits, water pumps, water filtering kits, modern latrines, farm tools, wind turbines, solar panels, mass transit trains, affordable electric cars, schools and hospitals.

For those who think this is naïve, consider that the reverse happened during World War II. According to historian John Buescher, no American cars, commercial trucks, or auto parts were made from February 1942 to October 1945. "The auto industry retooled to manufacture tanks, trucks, jeeps, aeroplanes, bombs, torpedoes, steel helmets, and ammunition under massive contracts issued by the government".

The Catholic bishops at Vatican II taught that in order for peace to be built up, injustice must be uprooted - especially excessive economic inequalities.

St. Pope Paul VI famously said, "If you want peace, work for justice."

All Catholics, other followers of Christ - the Prince of Peace - and all people of goodwill need to pray, dream, dialogue, educate, plan and build a world where everyone is seen as a brother or sister and everyone's basic needs are met.

The world's Catholic bishops at Vatican II challenged us to put an end to the war by boldly declaring: "It is our clear duty, then, to strain every muscle as we work for the time when all war can be completely outlawed by international consent."

Are we finally up to it?

• Tony Magliano is an internationally syndicated Catholic social justice and peace columnist. He is available to speak at diocesan or parish gatherings. Tony can be reached at tmag6@comcast.net.

Confirming that terribly sad fact, Catholic Relief Services reports, "Conflict and a lack of aid has triggered a humanitarian disaster, leaving 80 percent of the population in need of assistance, including 2 million children suffering from acute malnutrition.

"Hunger is on the rise, and basic services like education, water, health and sanitation have deteriorated. These conditions triggered an unprecedented cholera outbreak in Yemen - the worst in history."

And to be honest, Yemen was a blip on my radar screen, that is, until I met Barbara Deller.

For 12 years Deller worked as a hospital nurse-midwife in Yemen, and later served as a faculty member of the Johns Hopkins University School of Public Health, advising ministries of health in numerous countries in Africa, Asia and the Middle East.

She explained to me that when Houthi rebels took control of Yemen's government, an Arab coalition led by Saudi Arabia attacked the Houthis because the Houthis are backed by Iran - Saudi Arabia's archrival.

Deller added that the Saudi Arabian-led bombing campaign against the Houthi rebels, as well as the counterattacks by the Houthi's, have greatly increased the suffering of this already desperately impoverished nation of 30 million people.

All sides have resorted to awful atrocities in this war.

However, Saudi Arabia has killed most of the civilians and bombed away much of the country - destroying numerous hospitals, schools, residential areas, water treatment facilities, food manufacturing facilities and farmland.

Furthermore, with U.S. military aid and support from several other nations, Saudi Arabia has been pounding Yemen for the last six years with ongoing airstrikes; and is suffocating Yemen with a crippling air, land and sea blockade.

The Saudi-led campaign could not continue without the military and political support of the U.S.

Friends in Yemen recently shared with Deller that life is hard, bombing continues, and they are constantly in fear.

According to the United Nations "Yemen remains the world's worst humanitarian crisis, and the situation for the millions of affected people is deteriorating … Malnutrition rates in Yemen are at record highs as the country is speeding towards the worst famine the world has seen in decades".

Although President Biden announced the U.S. would no longer supply Saudi Arabia with "offensive" weapons in its war against Yemen, however, he also indicated that his administration would provide the Saudis with "defensive" military support - like providing commercial contractors to service Saudi warplanes which continue to kill countless innocent Yemeni children and adults.

Any support of Saudi Arabia in its brutal war against suffering Yemenis is unconscionable.

• Tony Magliano is an internationally syndicated social justice and peace columnist. He is available to speak at diocesan or parish gatherings. Tony can be reached at tmag6@comcast.net

The head of WHO, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, underscored the fact that millions of doses had been received by higher-income countries, while many of the world's poorest countries go without - resulting in overwhelming sickness and death among the poorest.

A tragic and preventable example is that "Only 1 percent of the 1.3 billion vaccines injected around the world have been administered in Africa".

In India, which in April broke the world record for new COVID cases in a single day - surpassing 330,000 - only 3 percent of the population has been vaccinated.

The editor of Indian Catholic Matters, Verghese V. Joseph, told me that while the number of new COVID cases is now declining, Indians are still very vulnerable since the supply of vaccinations is nowhere near matching the demand.

But the hardest-hit country is Peru. According to Johns Hopkins University data, Peru has the highest death rate per capita from COVID in the world.

St. Michael Catholic Church in Prior Lake, Minnesota, where I serve as pastoral care minister, has a sister parish relationship with Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Chimbote, Peru.

In an email to me, Friends of Chimbote Executive Director Todd Mickelson wrote, "The deadlier Brazilian COVID variant is spreading through Peru. Medical systems have collapsed with no hospital beds available and severe shortages of oxygen and treatments.

"The economy is in failure with no government funds reaching the poor we serve who do not have bank accounts to receive assistance.

"Education for the children of the poor cannot occur with no access to electronics or the internet.

"It is essential to humanity and the health and prosperity of the world that global leaders of the wealthiest nations immediately provide vaccines, funding, logistical support and leadership to developing countries.

"Dedicating resources and expertise to vaccinate the world expeditiously is not only the just and humane thing to do but the only way to stop this pandemic and the risk of continuous mutations and devastation."

U.S. President Biden's decision to send 500 million COVID vaccinations to poor nations and the offer from the other G-7 nations to send an additional 500 million doses is certainly a good step in the right direction.

But buying these doses from a very small group of patent holders like Pfizer-BioNTech will take far too long - into 2024 - to safely reach the nearly 6 billion remaining unvaccinated brothers and sisters whose lives are unnecessarily on the line.

Over 170 former world leaders and Nobel laureates have urged President Biden to support a waiver of profit-motivated intellectual property rules for COVID vaccines and related treatments, thus allowing many other companies around the world to produce the life-saving vaccines.

Weighing in on this, Pope Francis said we need "a spirit of justice that mobilises us to ensure universal access to the vaccine and a temporary suspension of intellectual property rights".

• Tony Magliano is an internationally syndicated Catholic social justice and peace columnist. He is available to speak at diocesan or parish gatherings. Tony can be reached at tmag6@comcast.net.

Citing Francis of Assisi - patron saint of ecology - Pope Francis writes "our common home is like a sister with whom we share our life and a beautiful mother who opens her arms to embrace us. …

"This sister now cries out to us because of the harm we have inflicted on her by our irresponsible use and abuse of the goods with which God has endowed her. We have come to see ourselves as her lords and masters, entitled to plunder her at will."

Pope Francis explains, "Each year hundreds of millions of tons of waste are generated, much of it non-biodegradable, highly toxic and radioactive, from homes and businesses, from construction and demolition sites, from clinical, electronic and industrial sources. The earth, our home, is beginning to look more and more like an immense pile of filth."

The Holy Father then weighs in on climate change. Ignoring the weak scientific claims of those who deny the climate is changing and that the earth is warming - due principally to human pollution - he writes, "A very solid scientific consensus indicates that we are presently witnessing a disturbing warming of the climatic system".

Indeed, the scientific consensus is very solid. According to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), "97 percent or more of actively publishing climate scientists agree: Climate-warming trends over the past century are very likely due to human activities".

The last five years were the hottest on record. And Antarctic land ice, which covers 98 percent of the continent's landmass, is melting at an alarming speed thus causing a dangerous rise in sea levels. Furthermore, human-induced climate change is happening so quickly that many animal and plant species don't have enough time to adapt, thus causing various species to die. Frogs, which are among first to die when ecosystems start losing their balance, are now dying off in great numbers.

Now consider the endangered human species - especially the poor.

According to a Catholic Relief Services (CRS) policy brief titled "Climate Change and Global Solidarity" today "there are 3 billion people estimated to be a serious risk to the effects of climate change. Many people live in the least Developed Countries and Small Island Developing States, and their simple lifestyles contribute little to the problems we face. Pope Francis calls us to action - for our immediate response to their needs, but also for longer-term solutions which ensure the enduring benefits of nature for generations to come."

CRS is urging us to email and call our national legislators (Capitol switchboard: 202-224-3121) urging them to robustly increase financing to meet the immediate and long-term needs of the 3 billion brothers and sisters most at risk form climate change. And to fulfil and exceed the $3 billion pledge to the Green Climate Fund - the premier global climate-finance fund.

• The Earth Day user guide recommends:
• Get informed - knowledge is power
• Calculate your carbon footprint
• Unplug - using energy more efficiently
• Travel smarter
• Your food's carbon footprint
• Advocate your school and company to serve plant-based meals
• Shop smarter - support socially responsible and environmentally sustainable companies
• Vote for the earth and its people.

Join Catholic churches and schools that are going green.

Planet Earth - God created it. It's good. And it's the only home we have. Let's treat it with the respect it deserves for our good, the good of the poor and the good of generations to come.

• Tony Magliano is an internationally syndicated Catholic social justice and peace columnist. He is available to speak at diocesan or parish gatherings. Tony can be reached at tmag6@comcast.net.

The Romans' sins, the Jews' sins, our sins nailed our Lord Jesus to the cross. The cost of sin is death. Our sins killed the Son of God. Our sins crucified our loving Lord.

And our sins continue to cause him to suffer.

God is not the grand watchmaker, who created the world and now sits back and watches from afar as humanity suffers. No, by his incarnation, life, passion and death he has proven that he is with us - especially in our suffering.

And it is most important that we be with Christ in his suffering.

The late deeply insightful theologian Fr. Hans Urs von Balthasar said, "It is the Cross that the Christian is challenged to follow his Master: no path of redemption can make a detour around it."

So, let us pray.

From the personal sins of pride, arrogance, selfishness, greed, indifference, envy, lust, anger, unkindness and violence, save us O Lord. Make us instead men and women whose lives reflect your humility, compassion, selflessness, generosity, justice, kindness, purity, gentleness and nonviolence - in short, your love.

From our indifference to the structures of sin so evident in our society and world, like the abortion industry which profits from the brutal dismembering and murder of unborn babies, save us O Lord.

From an insufficient government response to the suffering of our poor and hungry brothers and sisters in this country, and throughout the world, save us O Lord.

From the many corporations that reap huge profits from the use of sweatshop labour, that refuse to pay a living wage, that produce unsafe products, that pollute and dangerously warm our earth, save us O Lord.

From the military-industrial complex which produces the guns used in many murders committed on our city streets, which manufactures the light arms, tanks, helicopters, fighter jets, warships, bombs, missiles and drones that fuel the world's wars and kill far more innocent civilians than combatants, save us O Lord.

From the research facilities and factories that produce nuclear weapons of mass destruction, save us O Lord.

From a government that is more committed to astronomical military budgets and tax cuts for the wealthy than it is to adequately fund needed programs for the poor and the middle class to fixing the nation's infrastructure, to helping family farmers, to trading fairly with poor nations, to ending global poverty, to legalizing our hard-working undocumented population, and to committing full funding for clean, renewable energy sources, save us O Lord.

Let us also remember that the crucifixion was not only the ultimate sign of the evil of sin but was also the ultimate sign of the love God has for us.

On March 27, 2020, with the deadly coronavirus increasingly raging throughout the world, Pope Francis presided at an evening Lenten prayer service and extraordinary blessing "Urbi et Orbi (to the city and the world) - before an empty St. Peter's Square.

This strikingly, out of the ordinary, deeply prayerful event, highlighted in a mystical way a heavenly call to humanity to pay serious attention to what is most important in life.

Pope Francis declared that during this pandemic crisis we are being called to make a choice between "what matters and what passes away, a time to separate what is necessary from what is not."

He added, "It's a time to get our lives back on track with regard to you, Lord, and to others."

• Tony Magliano is an internationally syndicated Catholic social justice and peace columnist. He is available to speak at diocesan or parish gatherings. Tony can be reached at tmag6@comcast.net.

According to a PBS report in CathNews, VoteCast declared that 50 percent of Catholics backed Trump, while 49 percent voted for Biden.

Many Catholics, like many other Christians, appear to be predominantly guided by their preferred political leaders, nationalistic tendencies, the culture, conservative or progressive leanings, their wallet and their often unconscious prejudices. These unhealthy tendencies are not conducive to building unity within Catholicism, nor overall Christianity. It doesn't have to be this way.

Let's really try to live our lives in such a way that everything we think, feel, say and do faithfully reflects what Jesus taught us as recorded in the four Gospel accounts of our Lord.

And let's also go the extra mile: Let's apply the words and actions of Jesus to the cultural, economic, and the political areas of our nation and world. Now you might be thinking how on earth - especially in today's highly fractured societies - can we possibly do this?

Well, let's consult the angel Gabriel. When this messenger from the Almighty visited the teenage Jewish woman Mary and conveyed to her God's desire to take on human nature by being conceived in her virgin womb, Gabriel put to rest her natural query saying, "For nothing will be impossible for God."

But while of course, this is true, we like Mary need to give our wholehearted "yes" to God. We need to cooperate with God's life of grace in order for grace to be fully operative in our lives - and by extension in our suffering world.

But how can we translate this into public policies and civil laws with so many different contrasting opinions?

Let's let the Gospel lead the way!

In the last judgment scene of Matthew's Gospel, Jesus rewards with eternal life those who have loved him by feeding the hungry, giving drink to the thirsty, welcoming the stranger, clothing the naked, consoling the sick and imprisoned.

And so, the Gospel mandate is for us to fully address the legitimate needs of the many Americans and countless human beings around the world lacking sufficient nutritious food and clean water, decent clothing and housing, quality comprehensive healthcare, humane restorative prison reform and a warm welcome.

It is necessary to remember that as important as it is for us to individually respond to these needs, it is also absolutely essential for governments to fully respond to these needs as well.

And certainly, Jesus' total nonviolent example calls us to convert our high tech swords into instruments of peace. Thus Catholics and all Christians - if we are to be faithful to the Gospel - need to take the Gospel of peace to heart.

Exactly what types of laws, budgets and public policies that need to be enacted is open to honest, respectful and compassionate debate. But that debate needs to lead to timely and fully adequate comprehensive solutions.

If each one of us starts and finishes with the Gospel mandate that every single human being - born and unborn - deserves not only to live, but deserves to live with dignity in a world where people come before profit, where the care of the earth outweighs corporate greed and where nonviolent solutions replace war, we will surely find ways to move governments, corporations and economies toward the right way - the Gospel way!

• Tony Magliano is an internationally syndicated Catholic social justice and peace columnist. He is available to speak at diocesan or parish gatherings. Tony can be reached at tmag6@comcast.net.

Pope Francis warns that humanity is largely going down the wrong road, and needs a radical transformative change of direction.

He writes, "Just as I was writing this letter, the Covid-19 pandemic unexpectedly broke in and exposed our false securities. …

If anyone thinks it was just about making what we were already doing work better, or that the only message is that we need to improve existing systems and rules, they are denying reality."

Instead, the Holy Father is urging us to build a Gospel-centered fraternal global alternative that replaces our "throwaway culture" with the "culture of encounter."

Francis writes, "I very much desire that, in this time that we are given to live, recognizing the dignity of every human person, we can revive among all a worldwide aspiration to fraternity."

But he emphasizes that tremendous obstacles stand in the way of establishing universal brotherhood and that we must have the faith and courage to overcome them.

Francis laments that "instances of a myopic, extremist, resentful and aggressive nationalism are on the rise."

The Holy Father warns against the widespread narrow-minded, unchristian notion that the territory beyond our village or country belongs to the "barbarian," and that whoever "comes from there cannot be trusted," and that new walls - including "walls in the heart" - must be erected for self-preservation against "them."

He adds, "People are no longer felt as a primary value to be respected and protected, especially if they are poor or disabled if they are not needed yet - like the unborn - or no longer needed - like the elderly."

The pontiff notes a global "moral deterioration" and a "weakening of spiritual values and responsibility."

As an example, the pope points to the unacceptable silence on the international level toward countless children "emaciated from poverty and hunger. …Only when our economic and social system no longer produces even a single victim, a single person cast aside, will we be able to celebrate the feast of universal fraternity."

Reflecting on the enormous destructive power of modern weaponry - especially upon innocent civilians - Pope Francis declared: "We can no longer think of war as a solution, because its risks will probably always be greater than its supposed benefits. In view of this, it is very difficult nowadays to invoke the rational criteria elaborated in earlier centuries to speak of the possibility of a ‘just war.' Never again war!"

This authoritative papal teaching is a significant step in moving the Catholic Church away from the just-war theory and back to its original Gospel-centered, Christ-like teaching of total nonviolence.

Pope Francis prophetically urges us not to slip back into the old significantly sick "normal" but instead to have the faith and courage to build a better world saying: "The pain, uncertainty and fear, and the realization of our own limitations, brought on by the pandemic have only made it all the more urgent that we rethink our styles of life, our relationships, the organization of our societies and, above all, the meaning of our existence."

• Tony Magliano is an internationally syndicated Catholic social justice and peace columnist. He is available to speak at diocesan or parish gatherings. Tony can be reached at tmag6@comcast.net.

Those who deny climate change and its accompanying global warming - from certain high government officials to countless ordinary users of social media - are in denial of the scientific facts.

Denying the reality of climate change is akin to denying that astronauts landed on the moon (see: https://bit.ly/3hKwlGN). And such denial is in company with beliefs of the Flat Earth Society.

If we, and especially governments, continue to drag our environmental feet, climate scientists predict that by 2030 far worse, and far more frequent catastrophic weather events - like hurricanes, floods, droughts and crop failures - will cause untold suffering to countless human beings and to our common earth home. In fact, doing too little, too late, could quite possibly put all of us, and future generations, at a catastrophic point of no return.

Let's not let that happen!

Get involved!

Pray, plant trees, research ways your house and parish can go green, urge your state and federal legislators to pass Green New Deal legislation. And participate in the current ecumenical Season of Creation which formally lasts until Oct. 4, the feast day of St. Francis of Assisi - patron saint of ecology.

In his message for the Season of Creation beginning on Sept. 1 - World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation - Pope Francis writes, "Everything is interconnected, and that genuine care for our own lives and our relationships with nature is inseparable from fraternity, justice and faithfulness to others".

He adds that this is a "time to return to God our loving Creator. We cannot live in harmony with creation if we are not at peace with the Creator who is the source and origin of all things."

Calling us to humility and attentiveness the Holy Father says "Today we hear the voice of creation admonishing us to return to our rightful place in the natural created order - to remember that we are part of this interconnected web of life, not its masters. The disintegration of biodiversity, spiralling climate disasters, and unjust impact of the current pandemic on the poor and vulnerable: all these are a wakeup call in the face of our rampant greed and consumption."

Continuing this line of thought, Pope Francis says that the pandemic has "led us to rediscover simpler and sustainable lifestyles … The pandemic has brought us to a crossroads."

In agreement with climate scientists, the Holy Father warns, "Climate restoration is of utmost importance, since we are in the midst of a climate emergency. We are running out of time, as our children and young people have reminded us. We need to do everything in our capacity to limit global average temperature rise under the threshold of 1.5°C enshrined in the Paris Climate Agreement, for going beyond that will prove catastrophic, especially for poor communities around the world".

In the spirit of St. Francis let us continue living the Season of Creation throughout all the seasons of our lives, forever discovering with joy, all that God has made!

• Tony Magliano is an internationally syndicated Catholic social justice and peace columnist. He is available to speak at diocesan or parish gatherings. Tony can be reached at tmag6@comcast.net.

But 75 years ago, the hell of war reached a new all-time immoral low when on August 6, 1945 a United States Boeing B-29 bomber dropped an atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima instantly killing over 70,000 - mostly civilian - children, women and men.

And again three days later, on August 9, 1945 the U.S. dropped a second atomic bomb, this time on the Japanese city of Nagasaki, killing at least 60,000 people - again mostly civilians. Nagasaki was the centre of Japanese Catholicism.

Since then eight additional nations have acquired nuclear weapons: Russia, China, Great Britain, France, India, Pakistan, Israel and North Korea.

When one considers the tensions between India and Pakistan, Israel and certain Middle East nations, the U.S. and China, the U.S. and North Korea and the U.S. and Russia, the chances of nuclear war are dangerously real.

Russia and the U.S. possess over 90 percent of the world's nuclear arsenal. And each nation has several hundred nuclear weapons aimed at each other - programmed at "launch-ready alert" or otherwise known as "hair-trigger alert."

Not only is there a real possibility of intentional nuclear war between both countries, but also due to sloppy communications and/or computer errors, Russia and the U.S. have come within minutes of accidental nuclear war more than once.

Furthermore, last year the U.S withdrew from the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty which had required Russia (then the Soviet Union) and the U.S. to eliminate all of their nuclear and conventional ground-launched ballistic and cruise missiles with ranges of 500 to 5,500 kilometres.

"Mutual assured destruction" - appropriately known as MAD - is the military doctrine which attempts to reason that since the undeniable massive devastation caused by a nuclear war between the U.S. and Russia - not to mention devastating the rest of the world - would be so great that neither nation would start such a war, is catastrophically foolish. It is nothing short of playing Russian roulette with the human race.

Add to these dangers the U.S. Nuclear Posture Review's statement that the U.S. will continue its policy to be the first to initiate a nuclear attack if it decides that its "vital interests" and those of its "allies and partners" are at risk.

On Jan. 23, 2020 the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, moved their famous Doomsday Clock to 100 seconds before midnight - warning how extremely near humanity is to a global catastrophic midnight posed by the increasing threats of nuclear war and climate change.

"We are now expressing how close the world is to catastrophe in seconds - not hours, or even minutes."

"It is the closest to Doomsday we have ever been in the history of the Doomsday Clock. We now face a true emergency - an absolutely unacceptable state of world affairs that has eliminated any margin for error or further delay," warned Rachel Bronson, Ph.D., president of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists.

In his message given at Nagasaki's Atomic Bomb Hypocenter Park last year, Pope Francis said, "One of the deepest longings of the human heart is for security, peace and stability. The possession of nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction is not the answer to this desire; indeed they seem always to thwart it."

And with prophetic warning, Pope Francis declared: "The use of atomic energy for purposes of war is immoral, just as the possessing of nuclear weapons is immoral, as I already said two years ago. We will be judged on this."

• Tony Magliano is an internationally syndicated Catholic social justice and peace columnist. He is available to speak at diocesan or parish gatherings. Tony can be reached at tmag6@comcast.net.