Avoiding War and Safeguarding Peace – The Church’s teaching on Just War

Jeff Ziegler
From the Jan/Feb 2006 Issue of Lay Witness Magazine

Issue: What does the Church teach about just war?

Response: While recognizing the right of nations to legitimate self-defense under the just war doctrine, the teaching Church urges the avoidance of war.

Discussion: In the days following Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger’s election to the Chair of Peter, speculation arose in the Catholic and secular media about why he chose the name Benedict XVI. In his first general audience, the pontiff revealed that he had chosen his name because of his concern for peace:

I wanted to be called Benedict XVI in order to create a spiritual bond with Benedict XV, who steered the Church through the period of turmoil caused by the First World War. He was a courageous and authentic prophet of peace and strove with brave courage first of all to avert the tragedy of the war and then to limit its harmful consequences. Treading in his footsteps, I would like to place my ministry at the service of reconciliation and harmony between persons and peoples, since I am profoundly convinced that the great good of peace is first and foremost a gift of God, a precious but unfortunately fragile gift to pray for, safeguard and build up, day after day, with the help of all.1

The horrors of modern warfare have led the pontiffs of the past century to lament repeatedly the evils that attend war and to emphasize the importance of safeguarding peace. In a 52-year period, five popes devoted an astounding 21 encyclicals to these topics. Since 1968, papal teaching on peace has been expressed primarily in Messages for the World Day of Peace, celebrated annually on January 1st.

The Roots of War and Peace

War, according to St. James, has its roots in disordered passions. “What causes wars, and what causes fightings among you? Is it not your passions that are at war in your members? You desire and do not have; so you kill. And you covet and cannot obtain; so you fight and wage war” (Jas. 4:1–2). Our Lord, too, teaches that sinful anger leads to killing (see Mt. 5:21–22).

This sinful anger is not the praiseworthy desire “to impose restitution to correct vices and maintain justice,” but rather is the “desire for revenge . . .in order to do evil to someone who should be punished.”2 phone: 1.800.693.2484 / fax: 1.740.283.4011 LW The Answers You Need

The grace of Christ can subdue all sinful anger and disordered passions. Much as war is sin writ large, “earthly peace is the image and fruit of the peace of Christ, the messianic ‘Prince of Peace.’ By the blood of His Cross, ‘in his own person he killed the hostility’ (Eph. 2:16; cf. Col. 1:20–22), He reconciled men with God and made His Church the sacrament of the unity of the human race and of its union with God. ‘He is our peace’ (Eph. 2:14). He has declared: ‘Blessed are the peacemakers’ (Mt. 5:9).”3

Much, too, as Christian life is more than the absence of sin, peace is more than the absence of war. St. Augustine describes peace as the “tranquility of order”; it is “the work of justice and the effect of charity.”4 The Second Vatican Council elaborates upon how peace results from justice and charity:

Peace results from that order structured into human society by its divine Founder, and actualized by men as they thirst after ever greater justice. The common good of humanity finds its ultimate meaning in the eternal law. But since the concrete demands of this common good are constantly changing as time goes on, peace is never attained once and for all, but must be built up ceaselessly. Moreover, since the human will is unsteady and wounded by sin, the achievement of peace requires a constant mastering of passions and the vigilance of lawful authority.

But this is not enough. This peace on earth cannot be obtained unless personal well-being is safeguarded and men freely and trustingly share with one another the riches of their inner spirits and their talents. A firm determination to respect other men and peoples and their dignity, as well as the studied practice of brotherhood are absolutely necessary for the establishment of peace. Hence peace is likewise the fruit of love, which goes beyond
what justice can provide.5

Avoiding War

The Roman pontiffs have often lamented the evils that accompany war. Issuing his first encyclical in the opening months of World War I, Pope Benedict XV observed that “the sad cohorts of war, sorrow and distress swoop down upon every city and every home; day by day the mighty number of widows and orphans increases, and with the interruption of communications, trade is at a standstill; agriculture is abandoned; the arts are reduced to inactivity; the wealthy are in difficulties; the poor are reduced to abject misery; all are in distress.”6

Likewise, a month after World War II began, Pope Pius XII wrote in his own inaugural encyclical that “when We think of the wave of suffering that has come on countless people who but yesterday enjoyed in the environment of their homes some little degree of well-being, We are tempted to lay down Our pen. Our paternal heart is torn by anguish as We look ahead to all that will yet come forth from the baneful seed of violence and of hatred for which the sword today ploughs the blood-drenched furrow.”7

Because of the evils that accompany war, “the Church insistently urges everyone to prayer and action so that the divine Goodness may free us from the ancient bondage of war. All citizens are obliged to work for the avoidance of war.”8

The teaching Church does not place hope for the avoidance of war in the disordered accumulation of weapons.9 Instead, the Church counsels the overcoming of “injustice, economic or social inequalities, and pride raging among men and nations.”10

The Just War

The Fifth Commandment (“Thou shalt not kill”) does not forbid legitimate self-defense “once all peace efforts have failed.”11 For self-defense to be morally legitimate, the following conditions must be met simultaneously:

• 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.

The evaluation of these conditions “belongs to the prudential judgment of those who have responsibility for the common good.”12

Within this context, governments “have the right and duty to impose on citizens the obligations necessary for national defense.” Those who serve in the armed forces are thus “servants of the security and freedom of nations” who can “truly contribute to the common good of the nation and the maintenance of peace.” “Equitable provision” must be made for conscientious objectors, but they, too, are obliged “to serve the human community in some other way.”13

Just as the teaching Church offers moral criteria for evaluating whether to wage war, the Church also has a body of moral teaching related to conduct in war. Among the most important points:

• The moral law remains valid during war.

• A soldier is innocent of violating the Fifth Commandment when, “actuated not by motives of ambition or cruelty, but by a pure desire of serving the interests of his country,” he “takes away the life of an enemy in a just war.”14

• Orders to destroy a people, nation, nation, or minority—in other words, to commit genocide—are gravely immoral and must be disobeyed.

• The “indiscriminate destruction of whole cities or vast areas with their inhabitants” is gravely immoral.

• “Non-combatants, wounded soldiers, and prisoners must be respected and treated humanely.”15

Developing the Church’s just war doctrine, in light of the killing of civilian populations in the former Yugoslavia in the 1990s, Pope John Paul II spoke of the right and duty of the community of nations to disarm an unjust aggressor under certain conditions:

Clearly, when a civilian population risks being overcome by the attacks of an unjust aggressor and political efforts and non-violent defence prove to be of no avail, it is legitimate and even obligatory to take concrete measures to disarm the aggressor. These measures however must be limited in time and precise in their aims. They must be carried out in full respect for international law, guaranteed by an authority that is internationally recognized and, in any event, never left to the outcome of armed intervention alone. . . .

There remains a fundamental duty for all men and women of good will, called to commit themselves personally to the cause of peace: that of educating for peace, setting in place structures of peace and methods of non-violence, and making every possible effort to bring parties in conflict to the negotiating table.16

Praying for Peace

Prayer is the foundation of the peacemaking to which Our Lord calls us in the beatitudes. “Prayer for peace,” writes Pope John Paul II, “is not an afterthought to the work of peace. It is of the very essence of building the peace of order, justice, and freedom.”

To pray for peace is to open the human heart to the inroads of God’s power to renew all things. With the life-giving force of his grace, God can create openings for peace where only obstacles and closures are apparent; he can strengthen and enlarge the solidarity of the human family in spite of our endless history of division and conflict. To pray for peace is to pray for justice, for a right-ordering of relations within and among nations and
peoples. It is to pray for freedom, especially for the religious freedom that is a basic human and civil right of every individual. To pray for peace is to seek God’s forgiveness, and to implore the courage to forgive those who have trespassed against us.17

Particularly efficacious in this regard is the Holy Rosary. When the Blessed Virgin appeared in Fatima on May 13, 1917, she said, “Say the Rosary every day, to bring peace to the world and an end to the war.”18 Pope John Paul II discusses why the Roman pontiffs have long associated the Rosary with the cause of peace:

In a word, by focusing our eyes on Christ, the Rosary also makes us peacemakers in the world. By its nature as an insistent choral petition in harmony with Christ’s invitation to “pray ceaselessly” (Lk. 18:1), the Rosary allows us to hope that, even today, the difficult “battle” for peace can be won. Far from offering an escape from the problems of the world, the Rosary obliges us to see them with responsible and generous eyes, and obtains for us
the strength to face them with the certainty of God’s help and the firm intention of bearing witness in every situation to “love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony” (Col. 3:14).19

For Further Reading

Both the Catechism of the Catholic Church and the Second Vatican Council’s Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World discuss Catholic teaching on peace.20

The popes of the last century have written 21 encyclicals on peace and the evils that accompany war:21

• Pope Benedict XV, Ad Beatissimi Apostolorum (Appealing for Peace, 1914)

• Pope Benedict XV, Quod Iam Diu (On the Future Peace Conference, 1918)

• Pope Benedict XV, Paterna Iam Diu (On the Children of Central Europe, 1919)

• Pope Benedict XV, Pacem, Dei Munus Pulcherrimum (On Peace and Christian Reconciliation, 1920)

• Pope Benedict XV, Annus Iam Plenus (On the Children of Central Europe, 1920)

• Pope Pius XI, Ubi Arcano Dei Consilio (On the Peace of Christ in the Kingdom of Christ, 1922)

• Pope Pius XII, Summi Pontificatus (On the Unity of Human Society, 1939)

• Pope Pius XII, Communium Interpretes Dolorum (Appealing for Prayers for Peace during May, 1945)

• Pope Pius XII, Quemadmodum (Pleading for the Care of the World’s Destitute Children, 1946)

• Pope Pius XII, Optatissima Pax (Prescribing Prayers for Social and World Peace, 1947) •

• Pope Pius XII, Auspicia Quaedam (On Public Prayers for World Peace and the Solution of the Problem of Palestine, 1948)

• Pope Pius XII, In Multiplicibus Curis (On Prayers for Peace in Palestine, 1948) • Pope Pius XII, Summi Maeroris (On Public Prayers for Peace, 1950)

• Pope Pius XII, Mirabile Illud (On the Crusade of Prayers for Peace, 1950)

• Pope Pius XII, Luctuosissimi Eventus (Urging Public Prayers for Peace and Freedom for the People of Hungary, 1956)

• Pope Pius XII, Laetamur Admodum (Renewing Exhortation for Prayers for Peace for Poland, Hungary, and Especially for the Middle East, 1956)

• Pope Pius XII, Datis Nuperrime (Lamenting the Sorrowful Events in Hungary and Condemning the Ruthless Use of Force, 1956)

• Blessed John XXIII, Ad Petri Cathedram (On Truth, Unity, and Peace, in a Spirit of Charity, 1959)

• Blessed John XXIII, Pacem in Terris (On Establishing Universal Peace in Truth, Justice, Charity, and Liberty, 1963)

• Pope Paul VI, Mense Maio (On Prayers during May for the Preservation of Peace, 1965)

• Pope Paul VI, Christi Matri (On Prayers for Peace during October, 1966) Pope Paul VI wrote the first annual Message for the World Day for Peace in 1968. Beginning in 1976, each message had a specific theme.22

Pope Paul VI

• The real weapons of peace (1976)

• If you want peace, defend life (1977)

• No to violence, yes to peace (1978)

Pope John Paul II

• To reach peace, teach peace (1979)

• Truth, the power of peace (1980)

• To serve peace, respect freedom (1981)

• Peace: a gift of God entrusted to us (1982)

• Dialogue for peace, a challenge for our time (1983)

• From a new heart, peace is born (1984)

• Peace and youth go forward together (1985)

• Peace is a value with no frontiers, North-South, East-West: only one peace (1986)

• Development and solidarity: two keys to peace (1987)

• Religious freedom: condition for peace (1988)

• To build peace, respect minorities (1989)

• Peace with God the Creator, peace with all of creation (1990)

• If you want peace, respect the conscience of every person (1991)

• Believers united in building peace (1992)

• If you want peace, reach out to the poor (1993)

• The family creates the peace of the human family (1994)

• Women: teachers of peace (1995)

• Let us give children a future of peace (1996)

• Offer forgiveness and receive peace (1997)

• From the justice of each comes peace for all (1998)

• Respect for human rights: the secret of true peace (1999)

• Peace on earth to those whom God loves (2000)

• Dialogue between cultures for a civilization of love and peace (2001)

• No peace without justice, no justice without forgiveness (2002)

• Pacem in Terris: a permanent commitment (2003)

• An ever timely commitment: teaching peace (2004)

• Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good (2005)

Pope Benedict XVI

• In truth is peace (2006)

1 Pope Benedict XVI, General Audience (April 27, 2005), available online at
http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/audiences/2005/documents/hf_ben-xvi_aud_20050427_en.html. He added, “The name ‘Benedict’ also calls to mind the extraordinary figure of the great ‘Patriarch of Western Monasticism,’ St Benedict of Norcia, Co- Patron of Europe.”

2 Catechism of the Catholic Church, no. 2302. The Catechism is available online at http://www.vatican. va/archive/ccc/index.htm.

3 Catechism, no. 2305.

4 Catechism, no. 2304.

5 Second Vatican Council, Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World Gaudium et Spes (December 8, 1965), no. 78. This document is available online at http://www.vatican.va/ archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council.

6 Pope Benedict XV, Encyclical Appealing for Peace Ad Beatissimi Apostolorum (November 1, 1914), no. 3.

7 Pope Pius XII, Encyclical on the Unity of Human Society Summi Pontificatus (October 20, 1939), no. 23.

8 Catechism, nos. 2307–08.

9 Catechism, nos. 2315–16.

10 Catechism, no. 2317.

11 Catechism, no. 2308.

12 Catechism, no. 2309.

13 Catechism, nos. 2310–11.

14 The Catechism of the Council of Trent (TAN Books and Publishers, 1982 ed.), p. 422. 15 Catechism of the Catholic Church, nos. 2313–14.

16 Pope John Paul II, Message for the Celebration of the World Day of Peace, 1 January 2000 (December 8, 1999), nos. 11–12.

17 Pope John Paul II, Message for the Celebration of the World Day of Peace, 1 January 2002 (December 8, 2001), no. 14.

18 Quoted online at http://www.ewtn.com/fatima/ apparitions.

19 Pope John Paul II, Apostolic Letter on the Most Holy Rosary Rosarium Virginis Mariae (October 16, 2002), no. 40.

20 Catechism, nos. 2302–17; Second Vatican Council, Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World Gaudium et Spes (December 8, 1965), nos. 77–82.

21 To find an encyclical online, type in the title of the encyclical at a search engine such as Google.

22 Pope Paul VI’s Messages for the World Day for Peace (1968–78) are available online at http://www. vatican.va/holy_father/paul_vi/messages/peace/index.htm; Pope John Paul II’s Messages (1979–2005) are available at http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/ john_ paul_ii/messages/index.htm; Pope Benedict XVI’s Message (2006) is available at http://www. vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/messages/index _en.htm.

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