Bundeswehr Bishop (!) Calls for 'Fitness for War'

In his Good Friday sermon, no less, in the Best Germany of all Times™, of course, and somehow no-one really seems disturbed by this…

I’m still travelling, so this will be a brief posting—to follow-up on a message a friend sent me a few days ago.

It’s still the week after Easter, yet I must write about this.

What a sick world.

Translation, emphases, and [snark] mine.

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A Good Friday Message: [Germany’s] Military Bishop Overbeck Calls for ‘Fitness for War’

Franz-Josef Overbeck is the military bishop of the German Armed Forces. He has a problem with the word ‘war readiness’—and suggests a slightly different term.

Via Kölnische Rundschau, 18 April 2025 [source]

In his Good Friday message, Ruhr Bishop Franz-Josef Overbeck called on Christians to be capable of peace while at the same time being fit for war [orig. kriegstauglich]. In his message, the Bishop of Essen, who is also the military bishop of the German Armed Forces, addressed the terms ‘readiness for war’ [Kriegstauglichkeit] and ‘fitness for war’ [Kriegstüchtigkeit].

‘Both terms are frightening’, he said in his text, which was distributed in advance. They show relentlessly how threatening the current situation is. However, it was no use denying the realities and ignoring the threat situation, Overbeck said.

‘We must become fit for war—in order to remain fit for peace.’

Defence Minister Boris Pistorius (SPD) had used the term ‘military readiness’ [Kriegstüchtigkeit] when urging more speed in the modernisation of the Bundeswehr. Overbeck said that it was problematic from a Christian point of view because efficiency is a virtue that expresses a positive relationship to a particular cause. However, he said

We are not striving for war and do not want it either. The opposite is the case. As Christians, we want to be peaceable.

That is why it is better to talk about ‘fitness for war’. By this he means being able to wage war without wanting to wage it [so, like…when?] Rather, every effort must be made to prevent it. According to Overbeck, it is important to build social acceptance for the fact that being ‘fit for peace’ and ‘fit for war’ are not a contradiction in terms. ‘We must become fit for war—in order to remain fit for peace.’

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Bottom Lines

This is so insane—to use the pulpit on Good Friday to call for increased fitness for war. As a German bishop, of all people.

Yet this is where we stand: probably well beyond the crossroads (of sanity), but, to be honest, since the Covid Mania and the Church’s fanatic pro-vaxx stance, are you really surprised?

I mean, call me a cynic, but I’m not surprised; to the contrary, if the establishment wouldn’t sing from the same playbook, I’d be surprised.

Before that, I won’t.

Also: these people are insane, no two ways about it.