The moral price of our energy: Armenia’s Christians and Catholic conscience

When Mother Teresa spoke of “the hunger for love”, she reminded us that our faith demands we recognise Christ in the suffering of others. Today, her words echo with painful relevance as I contemplate the plight of Ruben Vardanyan, now in his 23rd day of hunger strike in an Azerbaijani prison cell. After enduring 550 days of detention and torture, this man of faith faces a secret military trial for helping Armenian Christians in Nagorno-Karabakh.

The Catholic Church has long taught that solidarity with the oppressed is not optional but essential to our faith. This teaching takes on urgent meaning as the world’s oldest Christian nation faces systematic erasure while Western powers pursue energy deals with their persecutors.

Catholic social teaching emphasises the preferential option for the poor and vulnerable. Yet where is this preference evident in our response to Azerbaijan’s ethnic cleansing of 120,000 Armenian Christians? Their churches, some dating to the 4th century, are being destroyed, their communities scattered, and their leaders imprisoned.

Last week, Azerbaijan expelled the International Committee of the Red Cross, removing the last international witnesses to the treatment of prisoners like Ruben. By our silence, we become complicit in the violation of fundamental human rights that our faith calls us to defend.

The principle of subsidiarity calls us to support vulnerable communities in their struggle for self determination. Armenian Christians in their ancestral homeland merely sought to preserve their faith and culture, rights affirmed by Catholic teaching on human dignity. Instead, they were abandoned by Western powers seeking alternative energy sources following the Ukraine conflict.

During my years leading Unilever, I was guided by the Catholic principle that economic activity must serve the common good rather than narrow interests. In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus instructs us that “whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me” (Matthew 25:40). Our current energy partnerships with authoritarian regimes fail this moral test dramatically.

The Armenian Christians belong to our universal family of faith. Their churches are our churches; their suffering is our suffering. When we remain silent about their persecution while benefiting from trade with their oppressors, we betray this fundamental Catholic truth.

The indifference toward persecuted Christians is now institutionalised in our foreign policy, where human rights concerns are subordinated to energy security. Azerbaijan’s president openly mocks Western values while receiving red carpet treatment in Brussels and London.

The Catholic understanding of moral complicity teaches that we can sin through our inaction. Through our energy purchases and diplomatic silence, we cooperate in Azerbaijan’s persecution of Armenian Christians.

I call on fellow Catholics to embrace three actions rooted in our faith: First, practice solidarity through prayer and fasting for Armenian Christians and for Ruben Vardanyan’s release. Second, contact your bishop and MP to advocate for substantive diplomatic consequences for Azerbaijan. Third, support Catholic relief organisations serving displaced Armenian families.

The current crisis tests whether our profession of faith extends beyond comfortable rhetoric to meaningful sacrifice. For Armenian Christians facing cultural extinction, our response will demonstrate whether our faith provides light in darkness or merely accommodates injustice.

Armenia’s fourth century conversion to Christianity predates many European nations’ embrace of our faith. If we allow the world’s oldest Christian nation to be dismembered while pursuing business as usual, what does this reveal about the depth of our Catholic commitment to human dignity and religious freedom?

Will we answer the call to stand with our Armenian brothers and sisters in Christ, or will history record that we chose cheap energy over costly discipleship?

Paul Polman is the former chief executive of Unilever (2009-2019), and one of the leading advocate for human rights who helped develop the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

(Photograph of Ruben Vardanyan courtesy of his family)

The post The moral price of our energy: Armenia’s Christians and Catholic conscience first appeared on Catholic Herald.

The post The moral price of our energy: Armenia’s Christians and Catholic conscience appeared first on Catholic Herald.