Greenland Catholics eye new security agreement with relief, concern and commitment to the Gospel, says priest
Greenland’s Catholics are responding to a new security agreement with relief and concern, while remaining committed to the Gospel, says the island’s only Catholic parish priest, Father Tomaž Majcen. The Sept. 22 agreement among the United States, Denmark and Greenland allows expansion of the U.S. military presence, including upgrades to Pituffik Space Base and two additional installations. The deal follows months of U.S. President Donald Trump’s calls to acquire Greenland, which heightened anxiety among the island’s 56,000 residents, including about 500 Catholics. Father Majcen said dialogue instead of confrontation brings some relief to the small Catholic community. The Franciscans have provided pastoral care in Greenland since 2023.
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Greenland’s small Catholic community has welcomed a new U.S.–Denmark–Greenland security agreement as an alternative to confrontation, while remaining wary of decisions about the island being made in international negotiations. Its only parish priest says the Church will continue to focus on pastoral care and the everyday needs of residents.
Signed September 22, the agreement amends a 1951 accord authorizing U.S. military bases in Greenland. It allows the United States to modernize and expand Pituffik Space Base, establish installations at Narsarsuaq and Mestersvig, and potentially create other facilities; it also confirms U.S. access by air, land and sea, and limits foreign investment to NATO, NATO-aligned and EU countries.
The deal followed months of President Donald Trump’s calls to acquire Greenland on national-security grounds, during which military force was raised as a possible option. Greenland is a semiautonomous territory within the Kingdom of Denmark, which also includes the Faroe Islands.
Father Tomaž Majcen, a Conventual Franciscan serving at Christ the King Church in Nuuk, said dialogue rather than confrontation brought some relief. But he reported that residents remain attentive and concerned when their homeland and future are discussed internationally.
Greenland has about 56,000 residents, most of them Inuit, and roughly 500 Catholics. Majcen and two other Franciscan friars form the Conventual Franciscan Mission in Denmark; they took on pastoral care in Greenland in 2023 at the request of Copenhagen Bishop Czeslaw Kozon.
Majcen urged people not to view Greenland only as strategic territory, emphasizing that it is home to families, communities and a distinct culture. He said the Catholic community intends to remain present, pray, celebrate the sacraments and provide a place of peace and community.
He described listening, welcoming people and offering hope amid uncertainty as part of evangelization, saying that this work continues regardless of geopolitical changes.
Christian peacemaking and the moral limits of militarization in vulnerable communities
Christian peacemaking does not mean ignoring violence or leaving vulnerable people undefended. It means seeking safety and justice without making weapons, coercion, or retaliation the default response. Catholic teaching recognizes that force can sometimes be justified, but insists it be a last resort, discriminate and proportionate; intentionally attacking civilians is never morally acceptable.
The Christian aim is more than a temporary absence of conflict. Peacemaking works toward justice, trust, reconciliation, and respect for human life. The USCCB’s account of Pope Francis’s appeal urges people to see even an enemy as a brother or sister and to pursue dialogue and reconciliation; it also recognizes self-defense as legitimate.
That balance matters in vulnerable communities. A call to nonviolence should not be used to dismiss people’s real exposure to violence. But neither should fear be treated as proof that greater access to weapons or more coercive responses will produce lasting security. Catholic guidance supports reasonable firearm regulation and calls for stronger relationships between police and communities, alongside rehabilitation and restoration in criminal justice.
“Militarization” can refer to different things—expanded weapons access, a heavier reliance on armed force, or directing public resources toward military purposes. The supplied Catholic sources do not define it as a single technical category, so its moral assessment depends on the concrete policy and its effects.
Several limits are clear. Force must not be indiscriminate or disproportionate; civilians must not be deliberately targeted. The USCCB also urges reducing reliance on weapons of mass destruction and the arms trade, and redirecting resources from armed conflict toward the needs of the poor and the causes of violence. In domestic settings, it favors reasonable restrictions on access to assault weapons and handguns and a criminal-justice approach centered on responsibility, rehabilitation, restoration, and community relationships.
These principles do not settle every policy dispute. For example, the materials do not specify exactly which community safety measures are proportionate in a particular place. They do, however, rule out treating human lives as expendable, or claiming that a policy is justified merely because it promises security.
When evaluating a proposal that increases armed force or weapons access, ask:
The moral measure is not simply whether a policy uses force, but whether it protects human dignity while limiting harm and building a more just peace. Christian peacemaking calls for courage: resisting violence without hatred, protecting those at risk, and investing in the relationships and conditions that make violence less likely.