US Cardinal Robert McElroy has urged the Catholic Church to promote peace and active nonviolence rather than refining just war theory. “In the life of the church, just war theories are a secondary element in Catholic teaching; the first is that we should not engage in warfare at all” he said in an interview with Read more
Our attitudes to war change drastically when it becomes personal. When it is distant, it involves people whose nationality and culture we do not share, and wrongs of whose cause are disputed. But it does not affect us at gut level. When it is someone who has walked our streets, swum on our beaches, speaks Read more
Just war theory requires that combatants have not only a just cause, but also that they wage their war in a just way. Thus, Catholic teaching about conflict condemns direct attacks on civilians or even the disproportionate killing of civilians as collateral damage in an attack on a military target. In other words, you cannot Read more
An Italian news agency is reporting that Pope Francis wants to dedicate the next synod of bishops to the issue of global peace. ANSA stated the Pope mentioned this at a recent meeting of the organising council of the synod of bishops. “But how to develop a strong initiative in favour of global peace is Read more
The head of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace has said that a papal encyclical addressing the question of just war theory is possible. Cardinal Peter Turkson said proposals to drop the concept of just war were “legitimate”. He called for a “broad and deeply felt” debate on the question of just war theory. Read more
Participants in a Vatican conference are hoping to see just war theory dislodged as a leading framework for Catholic response to violence. Eighty experts engaged in global non-violent struggles have gathered this week to develop a new moral framework that rejects ethical justifications for war. They also hope Pope Francis’s next excyclical will be on Read more
The moral authority of pontiffs has long been used to cajole world leaders into peace and reconciliation. Earlier this year, for instance, Pope Francis tried to restart talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority with a prayer service that included Shimon Peres and Mahmoud Abbas. That tradition of papal peace-making lends even more weight to Read more