OXFORD, England (CNS) -- Germany's churches denounced their country's growing arms sales to the Gulf states and demanded tighter export controls on weapons manufacturers.
"Over the past 20 years, the federal government's reporting of contracts has become quicker and more transparent, while public awareness and debate around the issue has also intensified," said Msgr. Karl Justen, director of the German church's Catholic Office in Berlin and co-chairman of the Catholic-Protestant Joint Conference on Church and Development, known by its German acronym as GKKE.