Pope Francis: Govts. That Sell Arms to Saudi Arabia ‘Have No Right to Talk About Peace’ – Andrea Germanos (04/04/2019)

Nations that send arms to Saudi Arabia “have no right to talk about peace,” Pope Francis said recently.

The statement by the Pontiff came in an interview that aired Sunday on the weekly Spanish news show “Salvados.”

When presenter Jordi Évole asked him about Spain’s selling of weapons to the kingdom—which is leading the coalition waging catastrophic war on Yemen—Pope Francis expressed sorrow but promptly added that “it’s not the only government” doing that.

Spain is just one among the numerous nations that supply arms to Saudi Arabia, and continues to do so despite accusations of the coalition committing war crimes and increased attention on the kingdom’s vast human rights abuses following the killing of journalist Jamal Khahoggi.

The amount of arms Spain sells to the kingdom, howerver, is dwarfed by the amount of weapons sold to Saudi Arabia by the United States and the United Kingdom, with the U.S. being the biggest supplier of arms to the Saudis.

Referring to those countries, the pope said, “They’re fomenting war in another country, but want peace in their own.” Yet that will come back to bite them, he said, because there’s always a “boomerang” effect. Fuel “war over there, and you’ll have one in your own home—whether you want it or not.”

Évole’s interview with Pope Francis also touched on other topics including sexual abuse committed by members of the church, migration in Europe, capitalism, and even soccer star Lionel Messi. It aired the same day the pontiff took indirect aim at President Donald Trump’s anti-immgrant policies and rhetoric. “Builders of walls, be they made of razor wire or bricks,” he said, “will end up becoming prisoners of the walls they build.”

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