Archbishop Martin calls for arms spending to be diverted amid ‘horrors’ in Gaza, Sudan, DRC, Yemen, Myanmar and Ukraine

The Derry-born leader of the Catholic Church in Ireland made the call in his 2025 New Year message.

“How much humanity needs God’s mercy and forgiveness for inflicting the horrors and brutality of war across the world today - in Gaza and other parts of the Holy land and Middle East; in Sudan, DRC, Yemen, Myanmar and Ukraine - sadly the list is long and shameful.

"We need to cry out for forgiveness for spending: (in 2023) an estimated US$2.5 trillion on armaments and military resources - an amount that has since been increasing, not decreasing,” he declares.

He refers to Pope Francis call for a ‘fixed percentage of the money earmarked for armaments’ to be used for ‘a global Fund’ to eradicate hunger and facilitate ‘education for sustainable development and combating climate change’.

Archbishop Martin notes it is often impossible to tell the difference between the violence wielded by States and terror.

“The use in war of more and more sophisticated and powerful weapons - especially in the midst of streets, homes, hospitals and schools - makes it difficult to distinguish so-called ‘modern warfare’ from terror.

"How can tactics, which cause thousands of civilian deaths, alongside the whole scale destruction of food, water, health services and other infrastructure that is essential for survival, ever hope to restore justice and rights, resolve differences, respect human dignity, or provide a path for reconciliation and peace?” he asks.

He specifically highlights the war in Gaza.

“In the past 15 months, for example, we have witnessed not only the egregious October 7, 2023 terror attacks by Hamas and Islamic Jihad on Israel, including the taking of hostages - 100 of whom are still held captive in Gaza - but we have also seen a merciless and disproportionate response by Israel: over 45,000 people including 17,000 children have been cut down; two million people forcibly displaced; almost the entire population of Gaza is living in extreme hunger, and despite the reality of catastrophic famine conditions for hundreds of thousands of desperate civilians, humanitarian access is effectively blocked.

"International humanitarian law says that parties to a conflict cannot use disproportionate measures to achieve military objectives. The near-complete destruction of Gaza, and the bringing of its population to the brink of famine is, by any standard, a disproportionate measure,” he observes.

Archbishop Martin says the situation in Gaza is ‘emblematic of the failure of the international community to prevent the escalation of conflict and to protect civilians’.

"This is despite rulings of the ICJ on protection from genocide, on illegal occupation of territories and on systemic discrimination.

"I am conscious that people who have expressed similar views to these have been accused of anti-semitism. I wish to put it on record, once again, that I abhor the violations by Hamas and other Islamist militant groups against the people of Israel, and that I fully support the right of Israelis to live in peace and security.

"This right has to be achieved in the context of a just peace, where the legitimate rights of Palestinians are also protected in line with international law,” he says.

Archbishop Eamon Martin urges prayers for peace amid ‘immense calamity’ in ‘Gaza, Israel and Ukraine’