Series
21 episodes
Facing war, conquering peace
At the end of 2025, the priestly council of the diocese of Helsinki meets around the bishop, like three times a year. News, various consultations, then a training time for the twenty or so Catholic priests that we have in the country. No theology this time, but the presentation of a civil protection executive, present at the request of the Finnish administration.
Its first slide shakes us: under the word “preparation” there is a map of Finland. The eastern border is bright red, crossed by arrows representing the routes that the Russian army will certainly take in the event of an invasion. A gradient from orange to yellow shows the advance over time of the Russian army towards the west. Blue dots appear on the country’s eight Catholic parishes and so-called diaspora communities, where the faithful gather to pray even without a parish church.
In this country, we speak truth and direct: Finland is actively preparing for a war on its territory by 2030, and within the framework of the concept of “total defense” in force here, all components of society are mobilized to face it. Including, therefore, the clergy of this very small Catholic Church in Finland (25,000 faithful for 5.6 million inhabitants): we are asked to prepare plans for 2026 for continued activity and assistance to the populations.
“Moral armament”
The majority of the faithful here are immigrants, sometimes incompletely integrated into Finnish society. Our first task as pastors is therefore to engage our authority to relay calls for preparation (stocks of water, dry food, first aid kit, etc.): we must take this seriously, not expect everything from the State, but already be proactive. And solidarity is redoubled with the refugees from Ukraine: we know here that they are fighting for us there.
This “coming war” is in fact already here, and we are regularly experiencing its effects: Russia is trying to destabilize Finland through various actions: cutting gas pipelines and submarine cables in the Baltic Sea, drones, GPS jamming disrupting traffic, spying on sensitive civilian infrastructure, etc.
What should we do in the face of this emerging threat? One of the elements of “total defense” is a form of “moral armament” and intellectual hygiene: we learn at a very young age to cross-check information, to evaluate its veracity, to be wary of manipulation, to analyze the content we share.
There can in fact be no desire for peace without attachment to the truth, and this requires plural, transparent information, freed as much as possible from private interests or pressure groups, and by trust in the institutions which guarantee democratic values.
Finland fought to remain free and leave Russian rule, during the Winter and Continuation Wars in 1939-1944, when it lost 10% of its territory, then the Cold War dominated by forced neutrality called “Finlandization”. She knows the price of freedom, which goes hand in hand with the rule of law in a just society, where telling the truth is privileged. France is just beginning to become aware of the informational and cognitive war of which its population is already the target.
Faced with the challenges of war on the scale of an entire continent, we can feel helpless. Against worry and defeatism, it is important for everyone to ask themselves what is dear to them in their life, and under what conditions we can enjoy it collectively. What is within our means to preserve peace is to become aware of the treasure, never guaranteed, that are our free and just societies (admittedly imperfectly), and of the responsibility of each person to combat lies, which always isolate and alienate. Truth is a necessary condition of freedom (Jn 8:32).
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