• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
Catholic Review

Catholic Review

Inspiring the Archdiocese of Baltimore

Menu
  • Home
  • News
        • Local News
        • World News
        • Vatican News
        • Obituaries
        • Featured Video
        • En Español
        • Sports News
        • Official Clergy Assignments
        • Schools News
  • Commentary
        • Contributors
          • Question Corner
          • George Weigel
          • Elizabeth Scalia
          • Michael R. Heinlein
          • Effie Caldarola
          • Guest Commentary
        • CR Columnists
          • Archbishop William E. Lori
          • Rita Buettner
          • Christopher Gunty
          • George Matysek Jr.
          • Mark Viviano
          • Father Joseph Breighner
          • Father Collin Poston
          • Robyn Barberry
          • Hanael Bianchi
          • Amen Columns
  • Entertainment
        • Events
        • Movie & Television Reviews
        • Arts & Culture
        • Books
        • Recipes
  • About Us
        • Contact Us
        • Our History
        • Meet Our Staff
        • Photos to own
        • Books/CDs/Prayer Cards
        • CR Media platforms
        • Electronic Edition
  • Advertising
  • Shop
        • Purchase Photos
        • Books/CDs/Prayer Cards
        • Magazine Subscriptions
        • Archdiocesan Directory
  • CR Radio
        • CR Radio
        • Protagonistas de Fe
  • News Tips
  • Subscribe
Military men walk across Red Square near Moscow's St. Basil Orthodox Cathedral and the Kremlin's Spasskaya Tower Sept. 21, 2022, after Russia President Vladimir Putin's announced mobilization of reservists in the Russia-Ukraine military conflict. (CNS photo/Evgenia Novozhenina, Reuters)

Russian priest says Catholics, including clerics, fear conscription

September 22, 2022
By Jonathan Luxmoore
Catholic News Service
Filed Under: Feature, News, War in Ukraine, World News

Share
Share on Facebook
Share
Share this
Pin
Pin this
Share
Share on LinkedIn

A senior Russian priest dismissed President Vladimir Putin’s threats of nuclear war as “just words,” but said many young Catholics now fear being forcibly conscripted with their priests to join the war against Ukraine.

“Although I’m not a military person, I don’t think the Russian army could even use nuclear weapons — and if it did, this would be much more dangerous for Russia itself than anyone else,” said the priest, who asked not to be named.

“People are certainly frightened here, particularly since Catholic parishioners and clergy could now be called up, beginning with those who’ve done military service. But I don’t think there’s much to fear from Putin, who’s just coming out with words.”

Street protests erupted in Russia after Putin’s Sept. 21 order for a nationwide call-up of 300,000 reservists after setbacks in the Ukraine war.

Russian police officers detain a man during an unsanctioned rally in Moscow protesting President Vladimir Putin’s announced mobilization of reservists in the Russia-Ukraine war Sept. 21, 2022. (CNS photo/Reuters)

The priest told Catholic News Service Sept. 21 students and young people had “reacted very emotionally” to the mobilization order, with many debating its practical consequences.

He added that there had been “no consultation” with Russia’s minority churches and said he had consulted lawyers about the order’s implications for church personnel.

“Some young Catholics have already left the country, and more are doing so now,” the priest told CNS.

“The mass mobilization will very much affect church life here, particularly since many Catholics are strongly against the war and won’t want to take part. But those with military training up to age 50 may well have to go, while the order could soon be extended to others who haven’t even done military service.”

In his speech, Putin said his “special military operation” was continuing to liberate Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region from a “neo-Nazi regime,” adding that Russia would use “all means at its disposal,” including nuclear weapons, to resist attempts by Western countries to “weaken, divide and ultimately destroy” it, while aggressively imposing “their will and pseudo-values.”

He added that the partial mobilization would initially concern “only military reservists” with “specific occupational specialties and corresponding experience,” who would be given additional training for active service.

Western governments criticized the mobilization, and Russians demonstrated in Moscow, St. Petersburg and other cities. Human rights groups reported Sept. 21 more than 1,300 protesters had been arrested.

The Russian priest told CNS most protesters had previously been against the war, initiated by Moscow’s Feb. 24 invasion, and that the majority of soldiers had been recruited from Russia’s more remote regions.

A “much larger group” of previously undecided citizens could also come out in opposition, the priest told CNS, once the draft gained momentum and the war was “brought closer to people in the main cities.”

“Most are waiting to see what this order will mean for them, and how they’ll be treated if sent to fight,” the priest said.

“Catholics themselves are divided, with around 20 percent supporting the war, 40 percent categorically opposed and a further 40 percent watching to see what happens, especially if things get worse and their own family members are killed.”

Church leaders in Ukraine have deplored evidence of Russian atrocities in areas recaptured during Ukraine’s counteroffensive, while snap referenda on joining the Russian Federation were to be held Sept. 23 in parts of the Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions still under Moscow’s control.

Addressing Rome pilgrims Sept. 21, Pope Francis said the “tragic war” had left “some people thinking of nuclear weapons, that madness,” adding that he had been told about “the savagery, the monstrosities, the tortured corpses” currently found in “tormented Ukraine.”

Read More Crisis in Ukraine

Pope says he hopes Trump-Putin meeting leads to ceasefire in Ukraine

Advocate pleads for Vatican aid as Russian adoption database shows Ukraine’s children

Pope prays world leaders recognize their responsibility for peace

Pope Leo stands with youth in Gaza, Ukraine, calls for dialogue, not war

Pope to Ukrainian Greek Catholics: ‘God will have the last word,’ ‘life will conquer death’

Pope Leo XIV’s diplomatic efforts may impact U.S. foreign policy, analyst says

Copyright © 2022 Catholic News Service/U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops

Print Print

Share
Share on Facebook
Share
Share this
Pin
Pin this
Share
Share on LinkedIn

Primary Sidebar

Jonathan Luxmoore

Click here to view all posts from this author

For the latest news delivered twice a week via email or text message, sign up to receive our free enewsletter.

| MOST POPULAR |

  • Patrick Brice sentenced to home detention for attacks on elderly pro-life supporters

  • Statue of Confederate general known as anti-Catholic to be reinstalled in nation’s capital

  • Movie Review: ‘The Naked Gun’

  • Gun buyback exceeds expectations, previous totals

  • Mary’s assumption: The long-held belief was declared dogma 75 years ago

| Latest Local News |

Project PLASE hopes Beacon House Square shines a light in Southwest Baltimore 

Baltimore NBCC leader among People of Life awards winners

Gun buyback exceeds expectations, previous totals

Radio Interview: The situation in Gaza with Catholic Near East Welfare Association

Patrick Brice sentenced to home detention for attacks on elderly pro-life supporters

| Latest World News |

Texas woman sues ex-partner, abortion pill provider, alleging she was given drugs without consent

Canadian court OKs priest’s abuse suit against prominent priest, religious order

Judge blocks religious exemption to birth control coverage; Little Sisters of the Poor to appeal

Catholic University of America Press to publish Pope Leo’s dissertation

Pope says he hopes Trump-Putin meeting leads to ceasefire in Ukraine

| Catholic Review Radio |

CatholicReview · Catholic Review Radio

Footer

Our Vision

Real Life. Real Faith. 

Catholic Review Media communicates the Gospel and its impact on people’s lives in the Archdiocese of Baltimore and beyond.

Our Mission

Catholic Review Media provides intergenerational communications that inform, teach, inspire and engage Catholics and all of good will in the mission of Christ through diverse forms of media.

Contact

Catholic Review
320 Cathedral Street
Baltimore, MD 21201
443-524-3150
mail@CatholicReview.org

 

Social Media

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Recent

  • Texas woman sues ex-partner, abortion pill provider, alleging she was given drugs without consent
  • Canadian court OKs priest’s abuse suit against prominent priest, religious order
  • Project PLASE hopes Beacon House Square shines a light in Southwest Baltimore 
  • Judge blocks religious exemption to birth control coverage; Little Sisters of the Poor to appeal
  • Catholic University of America Press to publish Pope Leo’s dissertation
  • Mary’s assumption: The long-held belief was declared dogma 75 years ago
  • Baltimore NBCC leader among People of Life awards winners
  • Pope says he hopes Trump-Putin meeting leads to ceasefire in Ukraine
  • Sisters of Life ‘are the very mirror of God,’ cardinal says as 3 take perpetual vows

Search

Membership

Catholic Media Assocation

Maryland-Delaware-DC Press Association

The Associated Church Press

© 2025 CATHOLIC REVIEW MEDIA, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

en Englishes Spanish
en en