- Feb 5, 2002
- 190,605
- 70,625
- Country
- United States
- Gender
- Female
- Faith
- Catholic
- Marital Status
- Married
- Politics
- US-Others
Although I generally admired Pope Leo’s first encyclical, I was dismayed to read, in paragraph 192:
But Pius XII, speaking in the aftermath of World War II, did not jettison just-war theory—even with the advent of The Bomb threatening new levels of mass destruction. No one short of Dr. Strangelove would think that nuclear war is “an apt and proportionate means” of resolving conflicts. A just war is always a last resort, when preferable methods have failed.
Pope Leo renders his judgment “without prejudice to the right to self-defense.” But in the just-war tradition, a war can be considered just only if it is fought in self-defense, or in the defense of others.
If a nation can be morally justified in defending itself, how shall we distinguish between which sort of military actions are justified, and which are not? That is precisely the purpose of just-war theory: to make such distinctions. And indeed Pope Leo uses the principles of just-war reasoning when he discusses the dangers of autonomous weapons.
Later in the encyclical, the Pope again speaks inaccurately when he says: “When a culture normalizes and justifies conflict, a dangerous pathway opens up…” Conflict is a reality of human interactions, a consequence of original sin, which no moral system is likely to eliminate. Nations, like individuals, have different wants and needs; sometimes they will be in conflict. The key question, international affairs, is how those conflicts will be resolved, and of course peaceful negotiations are the preferred method.
Continued below.
www.catholicculture.org
Pope Leo is not the first Pontiff to say that just-war theory is outdated. Pope Francis said the same thing. Even Pope Pius XII, who cannot be classified as a pacifist, said in his Christmas message of 1948: “The theory of war as an apt and proportionate means of solving international conflicts is now out of date.”
But Pius XII, speaking in the aftermath of World War II, did not jettison just-war theory—even with the advent of The Bomb threatening new levels of mass destruction. No one short of Dr. Strangelove would think that nuclear war is “an apt and proportionate means” of resolving conflicts. A just war is always a last resort, when preferable methods have failed.
Pope Leo renders his judgment “without prejudice to the right to self-defense.” But in the just-war tradition, a war can be considered just only if it is fought in self-defense, or in the defense of others.
If a nation can be morally justified in defending itself, how shall we distinguish between which sort of military actions are justified, and which are not? That is precisely the purpose of just-war theory: to make such distinctions. And indeed Pope Leo uses the principles of just-war reasoning when he discusses the dangers of autonomous weapons.
Later in the encyclical, the Pope again speaks inaccurately when he says: “When a culture normalizes and justifies conflict, a dangerous pathway opens up…” Conflict is a reality of human interactions, a consequence of original sin, which no moral system is likely to eliminate. Nations, like individuals, have different wants and needs; sometimes they will be in conflict. The key question, international affairs, is how those conflicts will be resolved, and of course peaceful negotiations are the preferred method.
Continued below.
No, the just-war tradition is not ‘outdated’
The challenge for Christian moralists today is to update, not jettison, the just-war tradition.
www.catholicculture.org
