War in Iraq

With so much talk about war with Iraq, it is important for us to reflect on the teaching of the Church about war itself. The new Catechism of the Catholic Church states that all citizens and all governments are obliged to work for the avoidance of war.

It speaks of the right of a nation to lawful self-defense when four conditions are present:

1. The damage inflicted by the aggressor on the nation must be lasting, grave, and certain;
2. All other means of putting an end to it must have been shown to be impractical or ineffective;
3. There must be serious prospects of success; and
4. The use of arms must not produce evils graver than the evil to be eliminated.

These are all prudential judgments that must be made by those in power but it would appear that our present situation with Iraq does not meet all of these four conditions.

The Church does not condone preemptive war, which is being discussed so much these days, and no individual should ever have the absolute and unrestrained power to lead any nation to war. We cannot act apart from other nations or we will lack the legitimacy to wage war on a non-aggressor nation and destroy any hope we have for nations to live in peace in our time.

Do not be led by the voices of the warmongers we are hearing in the media these days. Violence begets violence. The war will not end in Iraq, anymore than the war has ended in Afghanistan.

The Catechism states: "Because of the evils and injustices that all war brings with it, we must do everything reasonably possible to avoid it."

I would ask our Catholic faithful to reflect on this teaching of the Church to help form their consciences and to lead them in. their responsibility as Catholic citizens. Above all, let us all pray for peace in our world, especially in the Middle East.