By Mike Nelson |Catholic News Service
How do we defend ourselves and our nations from attacks? When is it OK to fight back, if ever? These have been questions asked since the earliest days of Christianity.
One attempt to answer these is what’s known in Catholic circles as the just-war doctrine. Much of it is explained in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, which stresses that four conditions must be met to justify use of military force:
“– The damage inflicted by the aggressor on the nation or community of nations must be lasting, grave, and certain.
“– All other means of putting an end to it must have been shown to be impractical or ineffective.
“– There must be serious prospects of success.
“– The use of arms must not produce evils and disorders graver than the evil to be eliminated.”
These exist in a section called “Avoiding War,” found in No. 2307 to No. 2317 of the catechism.
In April 2016, at a conference sponsored by the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace and Pax Christi International, a Catholic peace organization, those who attended publicly rejected the doctrine and said there is no such thing as war that can be justified. Some reports have said that they asked the Pope to address the issue.
Over the years, many government leaders, and many Catholics, have diverged in interpreting this Church teaching.
The Second Vatican Council’s 1965 Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World (“Gaudium et Spes”) said that “as long as the danger of war remains and there is no competent and sufficiently powerful authority at the international level, governments cannot be denied the right to legitimate defense once every means of peaceful settlement has been exhausted.”
The Vatican has spoken out in moments when it looks as if all means of peaceful resolution have not been explored.
In 2003, St. John Paul II took issue with the U.S. government’s decisions to use military force in Iraq and said that it amounted to a “defeat for humanity.” Just days before the U.S. began bombing the forces of Saddam Hussein in March 2003, the Pope asserted that all options and efforts to negotiate peace had not been exhausted.
Pope Benedict XVI also expressed similar viewpoints, both as Pope and prior to that as Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger. In 2003, he, too, contended that unleashing a war against Iraq was not justified, in part because “proportion between the possible positive consequences and the sure negative effect of the conflict was not guaranteed.”
He continued, saying that, “on the contrary, it seems clear that the negative consequences will be greater than anything positive that might be obtained.”
Those words are worth considering in light of the terrorist activity that continues to plague and unsettle the world. It is hard to ignore, especially when it reaches our doorstep.
Once again, we ask ourselves the question: When is it OK to fight back, if ever?
The thinking behind the just-war doctrine that we still consult during these moments comes largely from St. Augustine’s letter to Boniface, written in 418. It has been the basis for much of the Catholic just-war teaching for 1,600 years.
Boniface was a leader of Roman Empire forces in northern Africa, which soon would be attacked by barbarian “vandals” from Europe.
In his letter, Augustine stressed that “peace should be the object of your desire; war should be waged only as a necessity and waged only that God may by it deliver men from the necessity and preserve them in peace.”
He added that “peace is not sought in order to the kindling of war, but war is waged in order that peace may be obtained. Even in waging a war, cherish the spirit of a peacemaker, that, by conquering those whom you attack, you may lead them back to the advantages of peace.”
Augustine emphasized that “mercy is due to the vanquished or captive.” Like many seeking peace before and since, Augustine cited the teachings of Jesus, which tell us to avoid retaliation and love our enemies (Mt 5:38-44), which throughout the ages has prompted mixed response.
Indeed, the complexity of issues we face in today’s world make Jesus’ words admittedly challenging to follow, as the U.S. bishops noted in a 1983 pastoral letter, “The Challenge of Peace: God’s Promise and Our Response.”
“In exceptional cases, determined by the moral principles of the just-war tradition, some uses of force are permitted,” the bishops stated. “Every nation has a right and duty to defend itself against unjust aggression.”
But “offensive war of any kind is not morally justifiable,” they added, concluding that the quest for peace is always our aim as followers of Jesus.
“Peacemaking is not an optional commitment,” they said. “It is a requirement of our faith. We are called to be peacemakers, not by some movement of the moment, but by our Lord Jesus.
“The content and context of our peacemaking is set not by some political agenda or ideological program but by the teaching of his Church.”
Nelson is former editor of The Tidings, newspaper of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles.
Trying to weigh a Christian’s response to war
By Kelly Bothum |Catholic News Service
There has been much speculation about whether Pope Francis is planning to reposition the Church’s stance regarding the justification of violence and war.
After the Nonviolence and Just Peace Conference in Rome this spring called for an end to the just-war doctrine, peace activists are urging Pope Francis to revisit the Church’s position.
They argue modern methods of warfare that create widespread destruction and kill innocent lives — such as the use of bombs dropped from air raids above — invalidate the idea of a morally just war.
From that perspective, it seems like a valid point. That is, until you read about some of the horrific human rights abuses committed by the Islamic State terrorist group — rape, murder of children and innocents, and countless reports of extreme violence.
So what are nations to do? Jesus’ exhortation to turn the other cheek seems not just foolhardy, to some, but morally dangerous to an encroaching global threat.
Of course, there’s the rub. Do we, in trying to halt these attacks and save lives, become like our enemy? Is violence the only option? How can the Church, which teaches that each and every life is precious, justify the killing of another human being?
I don’t have the answers to any of these questions but they sure pop in mind these days. And I know that war and violence are not new. We just hear about it more — all the time, it seems.
The Church has been faced with the question of morally justified use of force since its beginning. The just-war doctrine has its roots in the fifth century, when St. Augustine initiated a set of scenarios under which rulers could be morally justified to take military action. It was later honed by St. Thomas Aquinas to establish criteria for consideration.
In short, the doctrine says that for a war to be morally justified, it must meet the following: an aggressor inflicting grave damage; no other effective options for stopping the aggressor; a substantial chance of success; and use of military force that doesn’t create bigger evils than are being defeated.
Reading it, even the words feel like loaded weapons. They leave me thinking there isn’t much wiggle room, even though the doctrine is supposed to be a guide limiting military action. It almost makes war sound like an inevitability. These days, that often seems the case.
But does it have to be?
There isn’t a Sunday I go to Church that I don’t hear the word “love.” It greets me in the entrance hymn. The lectors read about it. The priest reminds me at the altar. And then there’s Communion, the ultimate display of Jesus’ love.
But love is another heavy word, one loaded with responsibility and not just the bubbly, red-heart variety. As Catholics, we are supposed to use love as the guiding force in our lives. That includes navigating the challenges of daily living, such as responding the right way to the driver who cut us off.
The way we think about responding to global violence and deadly attacks requires love, too. It forces us to go beyond the obvious to develop more creative, peace-building responses. It requires sacrifice to foster a greater commitment to fighting social injustice in our own lives.
Is any of this easy? Absolutely not, especially if you’ve glimpsed the horrors of what humans can do to one another. But it’s what we are supposed to do as followers of Christ.
Jesus’ love frees us from the chains of sin. It restores our relationship with God. But love also demands us to open ourselves to being part of the solution. Love requires working tirelessly to bring people together, even at risk to ourselves. It requires action in the face of hate.
I can’t begin to guess what Pope Francis will say if he in fact addresses the just-war doctrine, but I’m sure he had to be impacted by the sentiments of the participants on the nonviolence symposium. They came from some of the world’s most dangerous hotspots — Uganda, Nigeria, Colombia and the Middle East, among others.
They don’t have to read about examples of extremist violence and injustice. They’ve lived it. And instead of war, they’re fighting for peace. That’s the power of love.
Bothum is a freelance writer and a mother of three.
Just war: A developing tradition
By Daniel S. Mulhall | Catholic News Service
While the Catholic tradition urges peace in all aspects of our lives, the Catechism of the Catholic Church recognizes in No. 2309 “strict conditions for legitimate defense by military force.” Some have called this the just-war doctrine and the catechism makes certain provisions, including that “the use of arms must not produce evils and disorders graver than the evil to be eliminated.”
The catechism adds that while all citizens have an obligation to protect their country in times of war, those “who for reasons of conscience refuse to bear arms” are to be given alternative ways to serve (No. 2311), that “noncombatants, wounded soldiers and prisoners must be respected and treated humanely,” (No. 2313).
The catechism also says, in No. 2314, that “indiscriminate destruction of whole cities or vast areas with their inhabitants is a crime against God and man, which merits firm and unequivocal condemnation.”
The Catholic just-war tradition developed gradually over the centuries. While Jesus does not teach about war directly, his teaching that the meek shall inherit the land, the merciful will be shown mercy and that peacemakers will be called blessed and children of God (Mt 5:5-9) presents a strong case against war.
In the same passage, he also taught his disciples to love their enemies and pray for those who persecuted them.
In the early Church, the question arose whether someone could be a Christian and a member of the Roman army. Hippolytus of Rome, a third-century theologian, wrote that if a soldier joined the Church he must refuse to kill and could not take an oath to the emperor. Military commanders had to resign their commission, and any Christian who joined the military would be ostracized.
Tertullian, an early Christian author, argued that taking up the sword, even in peacetime, was forbidden by Jesus. Christians were publically ridiculed because they would not fight for the emperor.
This attitude began to change after 312, when Constantine, the Roman emperor, gave Christianity a new political status and Christianity flourished.
St. Athanasius wrote that it was meritorious to kill enemies in time of war. St. Augustine laid out the premise for a just war early in the fifth century. He said it must be waged under legitimate authority, directed to restore peace or punish injustice, fought without unnecessary violence and conducted with concern for the enemy.
Augustine’s teaching was developed further by St. Thomas Aquinas, whose writings provided the starting point for today’s teaching.
Current Catholic just-war doctrine takes into account modern weapons’ ability to kill great numbers indiscriminately and from afar. It begins with the presumption against the use of force, except in certain situations.
For example, Pope Benedict XVI, in his April 2008 address to the United Nations, argued that we have the “responsibility to protect” all who need protecting, and Pope Francis said, “It is licit to stop the unjust aggressor” when answering a question about Iraq and violence against religious minorities in that country. But he also said, “I do not say bomb,” and reiterated the word “stop.”
What is most important to understand is that the just-war doctrine is not the whole of the Church’s teaching on this topic. Promoting peace is the Church’s primary focus and first priority.
Mulhall is a catechist living in Louisville, Kentucky.
FOOD FOR THOUGHT
At the end of a three-day conference in April, a group of Christians who had attended the Nonviolence and Just Peace gathering in Rome issued an appeal to the Catholic Church. They asked that the Church “no longer use or teach” the “just-war theory” but instead “continue advocating for the abolition of war.”
In the document titled “An Appeal to the Catholic Church to Recommit to the Centrality of Gospel Nonviolence,” they said, “The time has come for our Church to be a living witness and to invest far greater human and financial resources in promoting a spirituality and practice of active nonviolence and in forming and training our Catholic communities in effective nonviolent practices. In all of this, Jesus is our inspiration and model.”
In Jesus’ time, he, too, experienced structural violence, the group said. But Jesus “proclaimed a new, nonviolent order rooted in the unconditional love of God.”
Members of the group asked the Pope consider a document or a meeting to discuss “just peace” instead of “just war,” adding, “We believe that there is no ‘just war.'”