Posted on 03/11/2026 3:03:55 PM PDT by ebb tide
When Pope Francis announced that war is never justifiable, he deprived the Vatican of a valuable means of assessing international conflicts. Faced with any world crisis, the Holy See now issues calls for dialogue and negotiation.
Good, good. We’re all for dialogue and negotiation— which, if successful, are infinitely preferable to bloodshed and destruction. But what if the dialogue is fruitless, the negotiations stall, the situation is intractable, and grave injustice remains? The Vatican is left with nothing to say. Or rather, nothing useful to say: no effective way to guide world leaders toward just solutions.
On Sunday, Pope Leo renewed his appeal and for a negotiated solution in Iran. His statement was in itself unobjectionable; who would not wish for a peaceful resolution of the conflict? But it was predictable, and therefore easy to ignore. The papal statement added nothing to the “dialogue” among world leaders, other than that familiar plaintive note. Can’t we all just get along?
Unfortunately sometimes we cannot all get along, unless we are willing to accept the unacceptable. Frustrated with the Pope’s statement, William McGurn of the Wall Street Journal responds: “Really? Stability and peace are achieved only through dialogue? Is that what history tells us?”
History’s lessons are not so simple, of course. McGurn writes:
The Catholic Church and its last few popes have understood only the destructive force of war. They appear to have given little thought to the terrible consequences for innocent people when soft words are offered as a substitute for tough but necessary action.
Over the centuries the Church has reflected a great deal about the need to take action when human rights are violated. The product of those reflections is the just-war tradition, which provides a practical means of judging when that action is morally legitimate, or even morally obligatory. When he decided to jettison the just-war tradition, Pope Francis left the Vatican defenseless against the arguments of those who see military action as the only proper response to injustice.
Ironically, the proper use of just-war reasoning could provide Church leaders with a more persuasive case against military action. Rather than issuing another call for peace talks— at a time when the warring parties have shown no interest in negotiations— the Vatican might offer some pointed questions about proportionality, discrimination, and the other traditional standards applied by just-war theorists.
In fact Cardinal Robert McElroy did just that in an interview published in the Catholic Standard. After citing with approval Pope Francis’ call for the complete abolition of war, Cardinal McElroy conceded that the Church “has historically allowed resort to war…” under the conditions established by the just-war tradition. He proceeded to list some of those conditions, and explain why, in his view, the American campaign in Iran does not meet the just-war criteria.
One could— and indeed I would— argue that the cardinal’s treatment of the just-war criteria is inadequate. One could— and again I would— also argue with his conclusions as to whether the war in Iran meets those criteria. But at least the argument would sharpen our understanding of the issues. That is precisely the goal of the just-war tradition: to help Christians hash out moral issues of war and peace.
The Church does have something unique and important to contribute to these discussions. The rejection of just-war thinking silences an important message, and leaves the Holy See sounding like Johnny One Note rather than challenging world leaders to heed moral principles. As McGurn warns: “At the moment the Vatican is almost guaranteeing its wisdom will be ignore by those who need it most.”
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