The Patriot Post® · Is Just War Theory Just Theory?

War in and of itself is not good, but it is sometimes necessary in this fallen world. “War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things,” John Stuart Mill famously wrote. “The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing is worth a war, is much worse. ”

Just like any other tool, war can be used for good or for ill. It is a tool that God Himself has used to mete out divine justice on His enemies — those who have done evil in the sight of the Lord. As Ecclesiastes says, “There is a time for war and a time for peace.” If Pope Leo was right recently when he said that Jesus “does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war,” then that would mean that God didn’t listen to the prayers of Moses, Joshua, David, or a host of other Biblical figures. Has the pope read the Old Testament? Is Pope Leo suggesting that God didn’t listen to the prayers of Pope Urban II, who initiated and led the First Crusade?

According to Cardinal Robert McElroy, the war against Iran is not justified and is not being used to do good. In an interview with CBS News, that question was posed, and McElroy responded, “No, in the Catholic teaching, this is not a just war. The Catholic faith teaches us there are certain prerequisites for a just war. You can’t go for a variety of different aims. You have to have a focused aim, which is to restore justice and restore peace. That’s it.” He did admit that it is an “abominable regime, and it should be removed,” but he stopped short of suggesting who should be the one to remove it.

Seems to me that getting rid of a regime that has terrorized and killed people all over the world and its own citizens for decades is the very definition of restoring justice and peace. “Leave aside the evils practiced by the Iranian regime,” National Review’s Noah Rothman says of the cardinal’s views. “Forget that it wantonly slaughters tens of thousands of its own citizens merely for petitioning their government for redress. Ignore for now the state-sponsored practice of disfiguring and even blinding women for the offense of wearing the wrong clothes, the summary and public execution of homosexuals, the impressment of children to serve as cannon fodder in armed conflicts, and so on.”

McElroy went on to claim that part of the reason the Catholic Church does not consider the war just is that the U.S. was not attacked by Iran. Quite the contrary, the Iranian regime has been attacking the U.S. and others since the mullahs took control. Again, Rothman gives the cardinal a review of recent history: “The Iranian regime has killed hundreds of Americans over the decades. It executes plots on U.S. soil to kill its elected officials, civil servants, and foreign dignitaries. It sponsors Islamist terrorist activity all over the globe, the foremost design of which is to shed the blood of Americans and their allies and to undermine its geopolitical objectives.”

So, are the cardinal and the pope countering centuries of Catholic teaching and doctrine? Since the time of Augustine, the Catholic Church has held the view that war is sometimes justified. “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,’” wrote St. Augustine in City of God.

Sole pacifism was not taught by the church because it’s not in the Bible. Obviously, Scripture advocates peace and calls us to live at peace with all men as far as it depends on us, but nowhere does it endorse pacifism.

“Christianity isn’t a pacifist religion,” says the Rev. Gerald Murray, a Catholic priest and commentator on EWTN. “Churchmen need to affirm that the legitimate use of force is virtuous. Protecting the innocent isn’t simply the ideal we hope to attain; it is a clear duty.”

Pure pacifism ignores the Scriptural commands to defend the oppressed and the helpless. “Give justice to the weak and the fatherless; maintain the right of the afflicted and the destitute. Rescue the weak and the needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked.” (Psalm 82:3-4 ESV) “Learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow’s cause.” (Isaiah 1:17 ESV) Pacifism is an abdication of duty and responsibility as well as a misleading application of principle that only serves the interests of the wicked.

Perhaps Pope Leo disagrees that this war against Iran does not meet the criteria for the Church’s “just war doctrine.” Let’s look at what those are.

In order to have “jus ad bellum,” the right to go to war, there must be: just cause, comparative justice (injustice by one party must outweigh that of the other party), the violence must be employed by a competent authority, the authority must have the right intention, high probability of success, and it should be the last resort. I think it would be fair to assess that all of these requirements have been met. The pope could attempt to argue that the U.S. doesn’t have the “right intentions” in this war. However, I think it’s tough to make the case that ensuring an end to a fanatical regime that actively seeks the destruction of your country and its people with nuclear bombs and other means is not a right or good intention. It obviously is, and waiting until they have the means to destroy you would not only be unwise but also malfeasance. It would be like leaving the door to your home unlocked, and then after the criminal is inside, saying, “Okay, now I can lock the door.” No, you must do what you can to prevent the crime from happening in the first place. Iran has been ignoring the “locked door” and attempting to sneak in through the windows for decades, and it needs to stop.

Thomas Aquinas also addressed this idea of having the “right intention” for war in his work Summa Theologica, saying that those waging war should have “rightful intention, so that they intend the advancement of good, or the avoidance of evil.”

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson laid to rest any doubts about our intentions in the Iran conflict: “The fact that you had the nation that was the largest sponsor of terrorism now having had that ability taken away from them, that means potentially millions of innocent people will be able to keep their lives and not get killed by terrorists — that’s a good thing.”

There is no better example of an unjust war than the war that Russia is perpetrating on Ukraine, and Pope Leo would be right in that instance to criticize Vladimir Putin and label what he is doing as unjust. But as usual, it’s only wrong if Donald Trump is doing it. And as usual, it’s not really about the intentions for the war or the justification for the war — it’s that the U.S. is the bad guy, despite the fact that we’re going after one of the greatest oppressors of our time.