020: War—Rarely Justified, Always Tragic
It seems that more people than ever before connect their identity almost entirely to their political leanings. So, as I write this, maybe I’m the oddball. As I age (I’m turning 36 this week, so that’s only a relative statement), my identity and views as a Catholic mean much more than my political views. There is inevitably overlap between the two, but I can befriend a liberal just as easily as a conservative, or a libertarian just as easily as a socialist. They must be okay with my stance as a trad-leaning Catholic, however.
So as I observe and assess what has been taking place in the past few weeks in Iran, I find myself leaning on my theological views to formulate a stance—a meaningless stance in the grand scheme of it all, but human nature will see to it that I will have feelings on it as everyone does.
I’m left to consider Just War Theory, and I undoubtedly listen closely to what Pope Leo has to say on the matter. The Catechism draws inspiration from St. Augustine and later St. Thomas Aquinas—who added some more rigor to the framework—to include Just War Theory in its teachings. In paragraph 2309 of the Catechism, several guiding concepts are expressed. Verbatim:
CCC 2309: The strict conditions for legitimate defense by military force require rigorous consideration. The gravity of such a decision makes it subject to rigorous conditions of moral legitimacy. At one and the same time:
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 modem means of destruction weighs very heavily in evaluating this condition.
I should note that Pope Francis and now Pope Leo have both expressed sentiments which are arguably more antiwar than what the Catechism teaches, and I don’t view that caution as inconsistent with what the church strives for—a genuine and sustainable peace only found through a personal, societal, and global relationship with Jesus Christ. As for Just War Theory, however, these four bullets are difficult to weigh against what the United States did in Iran yesterday (as I write this). Were the airstrikes against the nuclear facilities in themselves an act of war? Seemingly, but I do not see this in itself as a declaration of war. Nonetheless, if we view the acts as actual war, I struggle. The Trump administration is connecting this to Iran’s potential to have nuclear weapons. So I have two ideas that I think are related to Just War. Did Iran actually have a nuclear weapon (or were they imminently close), and were they imminently prepared to use that weapon against the United States or some other entity? If the answer to both of those questions is yes, then I would consider the airstrikes justified. If not, then I don’t. And as someone who grew up through the early 2000’s, I find the “trust me bro” strategy challenging when a leader on television just says so.
Regardless of the justification or lack thereof yesterday, war always represents a failure that occurred somewhere along the way as I see it. Somewhere along the lines, diplomacy failed. A call for respecting human dignity was disregarded. Maybe money attached to the military industrial complex spoke more powerfully than the beauty and fragileness of life.
To that end, I refer to paragraph 2327 of the Catechism. “Because of the evils and injustices that all war brings with it, we must do everything reasonably possible to avoid it. The Church prays: ‘From famine, pestilence, and war, O Lord, deliver us.’”
Apply this to any war in the last 30 years, and I cannot argue with it. In Iraq, a void of power was filled by extreme radical elements of Islamism and led to human rights atrocities. In Ukraine, human life is disregarded in droves. Young men and women have futures cut short, and civilians often face the worst of the conflict. Civilian casualties in Gaza are tragic, which include Catholic communities in the region. There are beautiful people in Israel and Iran alike who are harmed by simply being present in the middle of armed conflict—due to no fault of their own.
So war is always indicative of a failure which has occurred. I will leave it to you to determine whether it is or is not justified in this case. As is the case in this scenario and in all scenarios, however, this armed conflict is a tragedy. I end with Pope Leo’s words from the Angelus address today.
“War does not solve problems; on the contrary, it amplifies them and inflicts deep wounds on the history of peoples, which take generations to heal. No armed victory can compensate for the pain of mothers, the fear of children, or stolen futures. May diplomacy silence the weapons! May nations chart their futures with works of peace, not with violence and bloodstained conflicts.”
Okay, one final note on that quote. Even just wars leave wounds on the history of peoples. The allies’ involvement in WWII brought an end to the Third Reich, but it also marked the beginning of Soviet rule on a large chunk of Europe. That’s just one of many examples.
If we have settled for war, then we—as a human race—have first failed in every other way. -P.K.