Catholic Teaching in light of the Terrorist attacks.
[However attacking Iraq is a different matter.]
The analysis of the current situation, war as a result of the World Trade Center and Pentagon terrorist attacks, would perhaps benefit from keeping in mind several facts.
"The war-like acts of last Tuesday [Sept. 11, 2001] were appalling attacks not only against our nation but against all humanity. Our nation, in collaboration with others, has a moral right and a grave obligation to defend the common good against such terrorist attacks. Therefore, we support efforts by our nation and the global community to seek out and hold accountable, in accord with national and international law, those individuals, groups and governments which are responsible. It is incumbent upon all citizens to recognize this common threat, and to be willing to make appropriate sacrifices in support of our nation's multi-faceted and long-term effort to respond in a morally responsible way. ... We pray that you will find just, wise and effective ways to respond with resolve and restraint to the long-term task of ending terrorism..." From a letter to President Bush by Most Reverend Joseph A. Fiorenza, President, USCCB [U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops] Full Text. and Statement of Oct. 9, 2001
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"2321 The prohibition of murder does not abrogate the right to render an unjust aggressor unable to inflict harm. Legitimate defense is a grave duty for whoever is responsible for the lives of others or the common good" "2297 Terrorism threatens, wounds, and kills indiscriminately; it is gravely against justice and charity." |
"2263 The legitimate defense of persons and societies is not an exception to the prohibition against the murder of the innocent that constitutes intentional killing. "The act of self-defense can have a double effect: the preservation of one's own life; and the killing of the aggressor.... The one is intended, the other is not."[St. Thomas Aquinas, STh II-II, 64, 7, corp. art.] (See the Aquinas link below.)
2264 Love toward oneself remains a fundamental principle of morality. Therefore it is legitimate to insist on respect for one's own right to life. Someone who defends his life is not guilty of murder even if he is forced to deal his aggressor a lethal blow:
If a man in self-defense uses more than necessary violence, it will be unlawful: whereas if he repels force with moderation, his defense will be lawful.... Nor is it necessary for salvation that a man omit the act of moderate self-defense to avoid killing the other man, since one is bound to take more care of one's own life than of another's.[St. Thomas Aquinas, STh II-II, 64, 7, corp. art.]
2265 Legitimate defense can be not only a right but a grave duty for someone responsible for another's life. Preserving the common good requires rendering the unjust aggressor unable to inflict harm. To this end, those holding legitimate authority have the right to repel by armed force aggressors against the civil community entrusted to their charge.[St. Thomas Aquinas, STh II-II, 64, 7, corp. art.]" See respect for human life. [One should consider the meaning of "grave duty". See the discussion of "grave matter"in the Catechism sections 1854-1862.]
"2310 Public authorities, in this case [of just war], have the right and duty to impose on citizens the obligations necessary for national defense.
Those who are sworn to serve their country in the armed forces are servants of the security and freedom of nations. If they carry out their duty honorably, they truly contribute to the common good of the nation and the maintenance of peace.[Cf. GS 79 # 5]
2311 Public authorities should make equitable provision for those who for reasons of conscience refuse to bear arms; these are nonetheless obliged to serve the human community in some other way.[Cf. GS 79 # 3]
2312. The Church and human reason both assert the permanent validity of the moral law during armed conflict. 'The mere fact that WAR has regrettably broken out does not mean that everything becomes licit between the warring parties.'[GS 79 # 4.]
2313 Non-combatants, wounded soldiers, and prisoners must be respected and treated humanely.
Actions deliberately contrary to the law of nations and to its universal principles are crimes, as are the orders that command such actions. Blind obedience does not suffice to excuse those who carry them out. Thus the extermination of a people, nation, or ethnic minority must be condemned as a mortal sin. One is morally bound to resist orders that command genocide.
2314 "Every act of war directed to the indiscriminate destruction of whole cities or vast areas with their inhabitants is a crime against God and man, which merits firm and unequivocal condemnation."[109] A danger of modern warfare is that it provides the opportunity to those who possess modern scientific weapons especially atomic, biological, or chemical weapons - to commit such crimes. " See Safeguarding the Peace.
See the conditions for Just War from the Catechism, or all the sections that use the word "war"
Catechism of the Catholic Church. [This catechism was promulgated in 1994 by Pope John Paul II. Quotations are from the internet version at Christus Rex.]
"The purpose of all war is peace." St. Augustine, City of God, Catholic Quotations, p.907.
Book One, CHAPTER 21 -- OF THE CASES IN WHICH WE MAY PUT
MEN TO DEATH WITHOUT INCURRING THE GUILT OF MURDER. "However, there are some exceptions made by the divine
authority to its own law, that men may not be put to death.
These exceptions are of two kinds, being justified either by
a general law, or by a special commission granted for a time
to some individual. And in this latter case, he to whom
authority is delegated, and who is but the sword in the hand
of him who uses it, is not himself responsible for the death
he deals. And, accordingly, they who have waged war in
obedience to the divine command, or in conformity with His
laws, have represented in their persons the public justice
or the wisdom of government, and in this capacity have put
to death wicked men; such persons have by no means violated
the commandment, "Thou shalt not kill." Abraham indeed was
not merely deemed guiltless of cruelty, but was even
applauded for his piety, because he was ready to slay his
son in obedience to God, not to his own passion." Chptr. 26: "But then every man is not justified in
sacrificing his son to God, because Abraham was commendable
in so doing. The soldier who has slain a man in obedience to
the authority under which he is lawfully commissioned, is
not accused of murder by any law of his state; nay, if he
has not slain him, it is then he is accused of treason to
the state, and of despising the law. But if he has been
acting on his own authority, and at his own impulse, he has
in this case incurred the crime of shedding human blood. And thus he is punished for doing without orders the very
thing he is punished for neglecting to do when he has been
ordered." St.
Augustine, City of God, completed in 426 AD. "If the Christian teaching condemned wars
of every kind, the injunction given in the gospel to the
soldiers seeking counsel as to salvation, would rather be
cast away their arms and withdraw themselves wholly from
military service, whereas what was said to them was:
'Soldiers also asked him, "And what is it that we should
do?" He told them, "Do not practice extortion, do not
falsely accuse anyone, and be satisfied with your wages." '
Lk 3:14 NAB. [Compare the
RSV.]
Augustine, Letter 138, 2. Catholic Quotations, p.
906. See Works
of Augustine, and a biography
at the Catholic
Encyclopedia (1913). New
Advent also has a collection of his works online.
1. The Catechism quotes St. Thomas Aquinas' Summa Theologica II-II, 64, 7. [Written about 1260 AD. St. Bernard of Clairvaux's praise of the Knights Templar may also be of historical interest, although it cannot be said to reflect current Catholic thinking. It was written in the early 12th century.]
2. Catechism of the council of Trent on the Fifth Commandment, "thou shall not kill":
"[T]o the civil authorities... is entrusted power of life and death, by the legal and judicious exercise of which they punish the guilty and protect the innocent. The just use of this power, far from involving the crime of murder, is an act of paramount obedience to this Commandment which prohibits murder. The end of the Commandment- is the preservation and security of human life. Now the punishments inflicted by the civil authority, which is the legitimate avenger of crime, naturally tend to this end, since they give security to life by repressing outrage and violence. Hence these words of David: In the morning I put to death all the wicked of the land, that I might cut off all the workers of iniquity from the city of the Lord.
In like manner, the soldier is guiltless who, actuated not by motives of ambition or cruelty, but by a pure desire of serving the interests of his country, takes away the life of an enemy in a just war." [This catechism was prepared in response to a decree of the council in 1563. For more on Trent see the Catholic Encyclopedia of 1913.]
3. Catechism of Pope St. Pius the Tenth:
"Are there cases in which it is lawful to kill?
A: It is lawful to kill when fighting in a just war; when carrying out by order of the Supreme Authority a sentence of death in punishment of a crime; and, finally, in cases of necessary and lawful defense of one's own life against an unjust aggressor." [Published in 1905. See the catholic encyclopedia on Pope Pius X.]
(The context for these documents is the cold war with the possibility for massive use of nuclear weapons. As a result the Catholic Church today views all war with horror and urges great caution in the use of force.)
4. "Certainly, war has not been rooted out of human affairs. 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. State authorities and others who share public responsibility have the duty to conduct such grave matters soberly and to protect the welfare of the people entrusted to their care. But it is one thing to undertake military action for the just defense of the people, and something else again to seek the subjugation of other nations. Nor, by the same token, does the mere fact that war has unhappily begun mean that all is fair between the warring parties.
Those too who devote themselves to the military service of their country should regard themselves as the agents of security and freedom of peoples. As long as they fulfill this role properly, they are making a genuine contribution to the establishment of peace. " Vatican II, Gaudiam et Spes, sec. 79.
5. One should also review the Encyclical Pacem in Terris [Peace on Earth] by Pope John XXIII.
This teaching speaks to the rights of human beings, their duties, and the role of the state. Among the many rights acknowledged are the right to life: " Beginning our discussion of the rights of man, we see that every man has the right to life, to bodily integrity, and to the means which are suitable for the proper development of life..." In addition, Pope John speaks of the right of people to work, to provide for themselves and their families: "From the dignity of the human person, there also arises the right to carry on economic activities according to the degree of responsibility of which one is capable... In this regard, Our Predecessor Pius XII said: "To the personal duty to work imposed by nature, there corresponds and follows the natural right of each individual to make of his work the means to provide for his own life and the lives of his children; so fundamental is the law of nature which commands man to preserve his life." Therefore, an attack on peoples' lives or on their economic system, their means of life, is also wrong.
"As Our Predecessor Pius XII teaches: "That perpetual privilege proper to man, by which every individual has a claim to the protection of his rights, and by which there is assigned to each a definite and particular sphere of rights, immune from all arbitrary attacks, is the logical consequence of the order of justice willed by God."
"46. Human society can be neither well-ordered nor prosperous unless it has some people invested with legitimate authority to preserve its institutions and to devote themselves as far as is necessary to work and care for the good of all. These however derive their authority from God, as St. Paul teaches in the words, "Authority comes from God alone."[28] These words of St. Paul are explained thus by St. John Chrysostom: "What are you saying? Is every ruler appointed by God? I do not say that, he replies, for I am not dealing now with individual rulers, but with authority itself. What I say is, that it is the divine wisdom and not mere chance, that has ordained that there should be government, that some should command and others obey."[29] Moreover, since God made men social by nature, and since no society "can hold together unless some one be over all, directing all to strive earnestly for the common good, every civilized community must have a ruling authority, and this authority, no less than society itself, has its source in nature, and has, consequently, God for its author."
However, the power and authority of the state are limited to complying with the moral order and the rights of people. Pope John asserts "the whole reason for the existence of civil authorities is the realization of the common good." Normally, citizens are obliged to obey the laws and orders of the state as St. Paul taught in Romans 13:1, but this would not be true if the state itself violates the moral law.
State sponsored terrorism must be condemned but so must be any state sponsored mass murder in response (CCC 2313-14). If however the nations of the world decide to resist terrorism with moral means then their citizens can be called on to participate. "Individual citizens and intermediate groups are obliged to make their specific contributions to the common welfare." Although Pope John did not say this in the context of soldiers and war, it may be applicable to that possibility, but especially to nonviolent responses such as cooperating with law enforcement, aiding victims, working for economic justice and human rights among all people so that the conditions that produce violence and terror are removed. After all, as the Pope has correctly taught, if you want peace, promote justice. (For more on human rights and peace see Pope John Paul's message on the World Day of Peace, Jan. 1, 1999.)
Every human being can work to avoid hatred and oppose it. No one should teach, nurture, or promote hatred. "For unless enmities and hatred are put away and firm, honest agreements concerning world peace are reached in the future, humanity, which already is in the middle of a grave crisis, even though it is endowed with remarkable knowledge, will perhaps be brought to that dismal hour in which it will experience no peace other than the dreadful peace of death." Gaudiam et Spes, Second Vatican Council, section 82.
6. In 1983, the US Conference of Catholic Bishops issued a pastoral letter on War and Peace. The letter was primarily concerned with nuclear war and deterrence but they also said:
A. On War:
1. Catholic teaching begins in every case with a presumption against war and for peaceful settlement of disputes. In exceptional cases, determined by the moral principles of the just War tradition, some uses of force are permitted.
2. Every nation has a right and duty to defend itself against unjust aggression.
3. Offensive war of any kind is not morally justifiable.
4. It is never permitted to direct nuclear or conventional weapons to the indiscriminate destruction of whole cities or vast areas with their populations . . ." ("The Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World," No. 80). The intentional killing of innocent civilians or noncombatants is always wrong.
5. Even defensive response to unjust attack can cause destruction which violates the principle of proportionality, going far beyond the limits of legitimate defense. This judgment is particularly important when assessing planned use of nuclear weapons. No defensive strategy, nuclear or conventional which exceeds the limits of proportionality is morally permissible. "
1. Military Service: "All those who enter the military service in loyalty to their country should look upon themselves as the custodians of the security and freedom of their fellow countrymen; and when they carry out their duty properly, they are contributing to the maintenance of peace." ("The Pastoral Constitution . . . " No. 79.)
2. Conscientious Objection: "Moreover, it seems just that laws should make humane provision for the case of conscientious objectors who refuse to carry arms, provided they accept some other form of community service." ("The Pastoral Constitution" No. 79.)
3. Nonviolence: "In this same spirit we cannot but express our admiration for all who forgo the use of violence to vindicate their rights and resort to other means of defense which are available to weaker parties, provided it can be done without harm to the rights and duties of others and of the community." ("The Pastoral Constitution . . . No. 78.)
4. Citizens and Conscience: "Once again we deem it opportune to remind our children of their duty to take an active part in public life, and to contribute towards the attainment of the common good of the entire human family as well as to that of their own political community . . . "
War & Peace