Posted on 01/05/2004 5:41:48 AM PST by SJackson
If you believe the Rummy knew where the WMDs were when the war started or that Saddam was linked to 9/11, I'd start pulling off the tin foil or if your are privy to information get it to the White House ASAP. I happen to agree with Bremer though; the WMDead Enders are putting out "red herrings."
Novak had official capacity when he visited the Vatican in the beginning of 2003; the author chose to ignore the subject all together and yes I do believe its relevant for someone who bills himself as a Catholic conservative to explain the Vatican's position in context.
3 posts so far, and the goalposts continue to move. Now it's not what the Vatican said about Just War theory, it's not whether Saddam actually had WMDs, or links to 9/11, it's what Donald Rumsfeld knew and believed at the moment the war started.
Your later comments again focus in on Novak's argument. But you still haven't touched the Vatican's Just War statements themselves, which did not depend on anything Robert Novak said or did. His diplomatic effort, as you noted, failed to budge Vatican opinion. As such, it can hardly be cited as a source for that opinion.
Seriously now, your initial comment was that the article ignored Augustinian Just War theory, so I assume you're familiar with the theory itself. Have you familiarized with how the Vatican explained the applicability of that in this case leading up to Iraq?
The Just War theory will not work in the age of terror; Thomas Aquinas didn't have to deal with animals who intentionally attacked civilians.
We simply cannot wait for rogue nations to attack and kill thousands of people.
It's time for the Church to catch up.
The Pope was very strong in his denunciations of communism, especially communism in Poland. He supported SOLIDARITY openly.
The Pope is silent on abuses of Christians in Muslim countries and tut-tuts at George Bush, who is seeking to keep the Vatican itself from getting wiped out.
John Paul II is simply afraid of radical Islam.
I don't think I made your point, unless your point was the Vatican is acting completely different from its approach to Soviet communism.
Why is the pope silent about Muslim abuses toward Christians when he was vocal about Communist abuses of citizens?
Sure. Everyone who agrees with you has courage. And when you dodge questions, and switch topics you're simply demonstrating your brilliance. Whatever it takes to look yourself in the mirror.
The problem with your contention is that the Vatican steadfastly neglected its role in any matters of Just War in this case. That's not to say they didn't take a role at all. They just seemed to prefer that of president of the United States to their own.
The Vatican's role in any Just War is to properly explain the Church's teachings on the matter, allowing for informed decisions on the part of those ultimately responsible. It is not to usurp the decision making themselves.
One of the key teachings of Just War is that only the sovereign authority of a state is qualified to make a "Just War" determination - with the obvious qualification that he is ultimately accountable to God, and therefore ought not make it unwisely. What we got instead of Just War theory explainations from the Vatican were the conclusions of a bunch of self-important Cardinals, as if they themselves were qualified to replace a sovereign authority with either their own judgement or that of the (decidedly non-sovereign) U. N. Even worse, some suggested no war can ever be justified without "multilateral consensus." This latter belief actually contradicts Just War theory.
In short, the Vatican seemingly preferred to play the role of small European state to that of spokesman for the Catholic Church in this matter. The fact that some shockingly high officials in the Vatican ignored Church teaching on the matter in order to lecture the United States, with no more authority backing them than their personal opinion (though pretending their statements carried the weight of the Magesterium), is not a proud moment for them. The confusion of the masses who have drawn from certain Vatican spokesmen's actions (and inactions) entirely inaccurate conclusions about Just War theory, and the Church's role in it, borders on scandalous.
You may or may not believe Just War applies to the War on Terror. It would be nice to see someone in the Vatican take up that question themselves, in at least as much detail as the Mr. Novak attempted.
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