Europe’s Catholic bishops issued a strong statement of solidarity with the people of Ukraine “amid deepening geopolitical complexities and uncertainties” days after an unprecedented Oval Office blow-up between President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance and Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky. A visibly angry Mr. Trump asked the Ukrainian delegation to leave the White House on Feb. 28, abruptly terminating a deal Mr. Zelensky was about to sign that would have essentially traded a percentage of Ukraine’s rare earth resources for continued U.S. support of the war effort.
Mr. Trump and Mr. Vance had each accused Mr. Zelensky of ingratitude and disrespect after the Ukraine president challenged the vice president’s characterizations of Ukraine’s capacity to continue the fight against Russia. On March 3, Mr. Trump, his anger reignited after Mr. Zelensky told reporters that the end of the war with Russia “is still very, very far away,” suspended U.S. arms transfers to Ukraine.
The European bishops were careful to note that their expression of solidarity was extended to Ukrainians “who have been suffering from Russia’s unjustifiable full-scale invasion for more than three years.” Though the statement did not call out Mr. Trump by name, the E.U. bishops did say: “We firmly reject any attempts to distort the reality of this aggression.”
Mr. Trump in recent statements has seemed to blame Ukraine for the Russian Federation’s decision to invade in February 2022; he also described Mr. Zelensky as a dictator and has declined to criticize Russia or its president Vladimir Putin.
In the statement, released on March 4, the Commission of the Bishops’ Conferences of the European Union added: “In order to be sustainable and just, a future peace accord must fully respect international law and be underpinned by effective security guarantees to prevent the conflict from re-erupting.”
The bishops took note of the darkening sentiment toward Ukraine in the Trump White House. “The war has now entered a new chapter,” they said. “Amid deepening geopolitical complexities and the unpredictability of actions taken by some members of the international community, we call on the European Union and its Member States to remain united in their commitment to supporting Ukraine and its people.
“Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is a blatant violation of international law,” the European bishops said. “The use of force to alter national borders and the atrocious acts committed against the civilian population are not only unjustifiable, but demand a consequent pursuit of justice and accountability,” they said, adding: “A comprehensive, just and lasting peace in Ukraine can only be achieved through negotiations.”
On March 3, U.S. bishops had issued a far milder statement that seemed to support the president’s outside-the-box efforts to directly engage Russia in peace talks. The White House has pursued solo talks with Russia, most notably meeting with a Russian delegation in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on Feb. 18, while excluding representatives from both the European Union and Ukraine.
“As our Holy Father reminded us in 2024, courageous negotiations require ‘boldness’ to ‘open the door’ for dialogue,” said Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. He added that as U.S. Catholics prepare for the Lenten season, “a time of prayer, penance, and charity, we join our Holy Father, Pope Francis, in his solidarity with the ‘martyred people of Ukraine.’”
Archbishop Broglio urged that the United States, “in concert with the wider international community, works with perseverance for a just peace and an end to aggression.”
He said, “As Catholics, we are acutely aware that every past occupation of Ukraine has resulted in various degrees of repression of the Catholic Church…. we must not tolerate the forcing of our brothers and sisters underground again.
“I echo Pope Francis’ plea for respecting the religious freedom of all Ukrainians, ‘Please, let no Christian church be abolished directly or indirectly. Churches are not to be touched!’” the archbishop said. Mr. Zelensky’s government has been criticized in some quarters because of its crackdown on the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate. That church’s leader, Patriarch Kirill of Moscow, has been a strong supporter of the war and Mr. Putin.
The E.U. bishops’ statement was released in the wake of a summit in London on March 2 that had been joined by European leaders and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. The transatlantic leaders concluded the meeting with new arms commitments and statements of support for Ukraine in the dazed aftermath of Mr. Zelensky’s disastrous White House meeting.
U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer urged his European counterparts to shore up their borders and throw their full weight behind Ukraine as he announced outlines of a plan to end Russia’s war. “Every nation must contribute to that in the best way that it can, bringing different capabilities and support to the table, but all taking responsibility to act, all stepping up their own share of the burden,” he said.
Mr. Starmer said E.U. leaders working with Ukraine had devised their own plan to end the war, agreeing on four principles toward peace: Keep aid flowing to Kyiv; maintain economic pressure on Russia; make sure Ukraine is at the bargaining table and that any peace deal must ensure its sovereignty and security; and finally, continue to arm Ukraine to deter future invasion.
The new European resolve on Ukraine was applauded by the bishops’ conferences: “As the contours of a new global security architecture are currently being redrawn,” they said, “it is our profound hope that the European Union will remain faithful to its vocation to be a promise of peace and an anchor of stability to its neighborhood and to the world.”
The E.U. bishops’ statement was not the only rhetorical pushback from Catholic leaders experienced by the White House in recent days. Bishops from the United States and Mexico concluded a biannual gathering, this time held at Assumption Seminary in San Antonio, Tex., by issuing a joint statement on Feb. 28. They asserted that “the Catholic Church has always been a reliable partner of our governments, of our peoples and especially of all those in need, through processes to welcome, protect, promote and integrate the vulnerable, including collaboration in the resettlement of refugees to achieve their self-sufficiency.”
Church-based humanitarian responses on both sides of the border have been under attack in recent weeks by the Trump administration and G.O.P. members of Congress. Federal contracts for refugee resettlement and asylum assistance awarded to Catholic entities like the U.S. bishops’ Office of Migration and Refugee Services and Catholic Charities USA have been summarily canceled. That decision prompted a lawsuit from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops to recover outlays for refugee services already made on behalf of the government and to continue care for refugees already brought into the United States under the terms of the existing contract.
In their statement, the Texas and Mexico border bishops said, “We are all together responsible in promoting the common good, simultaneously safeguarding the dignity of all by finding the right balance between various human rights, such as the right of workers and their families to have their situation regularized, the right not to be exploited, the right to migrate, the right not to need to migrate, and the right of all to have their government guarantee security in their own country.”
Finally the Trump administration finds itself this week at odds with Pope Francis, not for the first time, over humane treatment of migrating people. Before his recent health crises, Pope Francis had chosen “Migrants, missionaries of hope” as the theme for the Catholic Church’s celebration of World Day of Migrants and Refugees.
“In light of the Jubilee [year], the theme highlights the courage and tenacity of migrants and refugees who bear witness each day to hope for the future despite difficulties,” the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development said in a statement announcing the message on March 3.
The hope of migrants “is the hope of achieving happiness even beyond borders, the hope that leads them to rely totally on God,” it said.
“Migrants and refugees become ‘missionaries of hope’ in the communities where they are welcomed, often revitalizing their faith and promoting interreligious dialogue based on common values,” the dicastery said in its announcement. “They remind the church of the ultimate goal of the earthly pilgrimage, which is to reach the future homeland.”
This year, the World Day of Migrants and Refugees will take place on Oct. 4 to coincide with both the Jubilee of Migrants and the Jubilee of the Missions at the Vatican.
