Trump administration has riled head of Catholic church over use of theology to justify conflict in Iran
The contrast in experience between the two men disagreeing over war and theology was striking.
On the one side was Pope Leo XIV, the first North American to head the Catholic church and the first cleric from the Augustinian order, who this week visited the modern Algerian city where Saint Augustine once lived. For Leo, who wrote his doctoral thesis on Augustine’s ideas, it was the culmination of a lifelong intellectual interest.
On the other, the US vice-president, JD Vance, a very recent adult convert to Catholicism with no academic background in the history of the church’s thinking.
Theologian here, although not Catholic.
We could see this debate as the Catholic church being more progressive than the US and in part it’s true. But it’s a quite conservative view within the Catholic tradition: in the beginning of Christianity, all violence were deemed unjust, and people preferred to die than to be violent. Then Augustine and others theorized the just war, which is the base of the international war law. But in the 20^th century, the Catholic church evolved on the subject, stating again that all war were unjust:
The current version of The Catechism of the Catholic Church never use the expression “just war”, and justifies only violence in case of defense.
So the fact that the pope is arguing about just war is not the church being progressive, but being in fact fusty according to its own tradition. I think the definition the pope has to just war is not the Augustinian one, but one that limit war to defense, so the difference between him and Francis on the ideas is in fact non-existent, but the usage of the expression is by itself a defeat.
I dont think a lot of people understood what a groundbreaking, radical change this was when Francis made it. Doctrine says clearly that there are a limited number of conditions for a catholic to participate in violence, basically self defense, to prevent others from certain harm, or a just war. Francis removed one of the key reasons cited for catholic to engage in nationalistic warfare without damning their souls.
And given-- Francis was also far from perfect. But he had giant balls and a sense to at least try to do the right thing. Even as an atheist, I miss that guy. What a legendary Chad. (the modern complimentary form of chad).
And stuff like this is exactly why the vatican is generally hostile to popes with a Jesuit background.
(I’m a Gen X ex-catholic)
I would love to have a belief that there is no just war but then I just think of WW2
Maybe it’s wouldn’t be Just, but it’s not like there was any other option. You wouldn’t be able to talk Hitler out of invading and taking over Europe.
Definitely not the case with Iran though, that was America being the aggressor like Hitler was.
Sometimes, we need to do something evil to prevent something worse. But that doesn’t make the evil thing good, right or just.