Just War

by Father Ray Williams

    As the violence in Iraq only gets worse, and with the loss of over 100,000 Iraqi lives and over 1200 American, perhaps it’s time to revisit the Church’s teaching on this subject, entitled as it is as “just war doctrine.” Note that the Church considers these conditions, for a war to be just, as “doctrine,” not theory or suggestions; they are the principles of natural law explicated by the Church in her official teaching. And being of natural law (the law of God inscribed upon our very nature as human beings), such principles are binding on everyone.
    The occasion for this re-visitation is the continuing questions asked me about this subject, especially concerning the possibility of a Catholic fighting in such a war with the knowledge that the Church at the highest levels has deemed this military action on the part of the USA and allies as unjust: what then of the military actions of American personnel in the theatre of war in Iraq? The answer is twofold, it seems to me. We read in the Catechism of the Catholic Church the following:

1) “The evaluation of these conditions for moral legitimacy belongs to the prudential judgment of those who have responsibility for the common good” (2309). That is, this is the government’s duty – in the case of our country, the duty of the President and the Congress – to decide with prudence whether the proposed action of war is just in the light of just war doctrine. The Church can only offer her counsel and warning. Thus, those who have the authority to wage war are the ones accountable for any injustice.

 

2) “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” (2310). Military personnel, then, are not responsible for the prudential judgment of the legitimate authority of governments, but they are bound to wage war in accordance with 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” (2312).

The Catechism then gives examples of immoral behavior during armed conflict, reminding military personnel that “blind obedience does not suffice to excuse those who carry… out [immoral orders]” (2313 & 2314):

• The inhumane treatment of non-combatants, wounded soldiers, and prisoners.
• “The extermination of a people, nation, or ethnic minority.”
• “The indiscriminant destruction of whole cities or vast areas with their inhabitants.”

    By way of reminder, here are the “strict conditions for legitimate defense by military force” which “require rigorous consideration”:

• “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 power of modern means of destruction weighs very heavily in evaluating this condition”)

    The assumption, in all of this, is that any military action of one nation against another must be defensive in nature. That alone is enough to disqualify many of the wars and military projects that the world has seen in the last century and, indeed, in the whole history of the world.
    The Catechism of the Catholic Church sums up its teaching on just war with these words: “Injustice, excessive economic or social inequalities, envy, distrust, and pride raging among men and nations constantly threaten peace and cause wars. Everything done to overcome these disorders contributes to building up peace and avoiding war” (2317).
    It is a good and noble thing to be imbued with a spirit of patriotism for one’s own land, for that is a virtue, but there are higher virtues, namely the virtue of religious obedience. To listen to the voice of Christ speaking through His Church is, for the Christian, the best thing he can do for his country and for his own soul.