This is a paragraph from a post by Bishop Barron on X:
The role of the Church, therefore, is to call for peace and to urge that any conflict be strictly circumscribed by the moral constraints of the just war criteria. But it is not the role of the Church to evaluate whether a particular war is just or unjust. That appraisal belongs to the civil authorities, who, one presumes, have requisite knowledge of conditions on the ground. So, is the war in question truly the last resort? Is there really a balance between the good to be attained and the destruction caused by the war? Are combatants and non-combatants being properly distinguished in the waging of the conflict? Do the belligerents have right intention? Is there a reasonable hope of success? The posing of those questions—indeed the insistence upon their moral relevance—belongs rightly to the Church, but the answering of them belongs to the civil authorities.
Aren't the passages I have boldfaced just another way of saying the pope should stay out of politics? Even if the American and Israeli administrations have a plausible case to make that the war against Iran is a just war, is Bishop Barron saying there may never be a war that it is so obviously not just that the pope can't say so? Who among the civil authorities responsible for waging war are going declare that the war they are responsible for is unjust?
"Aren't the passages I have boldfaced just another way of saying the pope should stay out of politics?"
ReplyDeletePretty much. It should be noted that Barron is on the Trump administration's newly created Commission on Religious Liberty. He is also on Fox News. Doesn't seem like he is following his own advice about church and state each staying in their own lane.
He’s a hypocrite trying to retain the favor of trump. Barron , like Cardinal Doyle, loves being a celebrity, rubbing elbows with the rich and powerful. Both men have abandoned the gospels.
DeleteBarron: But it is not the role of the Church to evaluate whether a particular war is just or unjust. That appraisal belongs to the civil authorities, who, one presumes, have requisite knowledge of conditions on the ground.
ReplyDeleteBarron’s presentation of just war theory is a good example of why it has been a complete failure in the modern world at least. We constantly see Catholics warring against Catholics, each following their civil authorities.
Barron’s position is basically an authoritarian position that soldiers and citizens should surrender their consciences to government authorities. In my opinion the primacy of conscience does not let us surrender our consciences to anyone whether they are a civil or religious authority.
What counts is what each individual soldier and citizen thinks about the morality of a particular war. I think Bishops have an obligation to raise questions but not necessary give answers about particular wars and not defer to civilian authority.
The archbishop for military services recently suggested that American soldiers might have real difficulty about the morality of what they are being asked to do by the government (potentially invade Greenland, abduct foreign government heads, kill sailors and destroy boats allegedly involved in drug trading).
The problem for soldiers is that the military does not work if soldiers are constantly evaluating their orders. Yes, everyone admits that under international law they have the duty to disobey illegal and immoral orders (e.g. kill civilians). but those are assumed to be rare occasions (although in fact in modern warfare killing of civilians often happens).
The epidemic of post-traumatic stress syndrome and suicides among the military and former military is strong evidence that their consciences are being violated.
Modern warfare is a social institution. We do in fact have a “War” department that is set up to undertake war on a regular basis (they practice all the time). Soldiers participating in these institutions, especially the huge American war machine, have to ask themselves whether (overall) it is a good institution.
My answer was and is no. That is why in the Vietnam era I became a conscientious objector. I recognize that there are patriots who are willing to surrender their consciences to the American government, but I am not one of them.
We have a very good organization, Pax Christi, which opposes war. I think it needs to be revitalized as a way for Catholics to mobilize our resources for peace something like the Peace Corp. Young people, women as well as men, who would declare that in the event of a draft they would be CO’s would form its core. I think the vocation to being a CO is much like a vocation to religious life (which historically has been exempted like clergy from the draft).
The American problem is that we are an extremely greedy and violent nation. Catholics (bishops, clergy and laity) need to face that fact as did Thomas Merton and Dorothy Day and then do something about it by leading lives of poverty and peace rather than simply contributing money to worthy causes or marching in protests.
Bishops need to face this issue. The current war between Russia and Ukraine is a war between Orthodox nations. It has certainly questioned my admiration for the Orthodox faith. If Orthodoxy can't stop this war among the Orthodox, of what good is it?
DeleteI think that a lot of the pressure for the reforms that led to Vatican II came from Europeans who were very disappointed at the ability of the Church to prevent WWI and WWII.
It’s a just war for Iran and, thank God, they seem to have the upper hand. If your war violates international law, doesn’t that qualify for meeting the criteria of an unjust war? It also has low chances for US and Israel success which makes it eligible for Stupid War Theory. The Sec’y of the Navy just resigned. Top level military have been purged probably for opposing what the crazy president wants to do. Barron would have told Jesus to stay in heaven where He belongs.
ReplyDeleteI don't think Barron is telling the pope to go pound sand. His pointing out that the civil authorities are the ones responsible for making just-war judgments is pretty much traditional boilerplate, I believe.
ReplyDeleteInterestingly, the Catechism, in the section that lists the just war criteria, notes that "the evaluation of these conditions for moral legitimacy belongs to the prudential judgment of those who have responsibility for the common good." And who has that responsibility in the United States? Well, certainly, the civil authorities. But only them? Perhaps we could argue that, in our system, each citizen has some level of responsibility for the common good. In that case, each of us has a right and duty to make judgments, based on what we know.
What about mediating institutions such as the news media?l? Do they also have a responsibility to the common good? What about churches like the Catholic Church (to which some of our civil authorities belong)? Do they also have a responsibility to the common good?