Catholic Answers Explanation of Just War Doctrine

[dumspirospero]

catholic.com/library/Just_war_Doctrine_1.asp

**WHO DECIDES?

**The evaluation of these conditions for moral legitimacy belongs to the prudential judgment of those who have responsibility for the common good.

Finally, the Catechism identifies those who have the burden of evaluating the conditions for whether a particular war is just: “those who have responsibility for the common good.” In modern nation-states, this means the government.

Governments are privy to information gathered by intelligence services and other means that the general public does not possess. Because the public is not in possession of this information, the public is not in as advantaged a position to determine whether the conditions are met. As a result, the public must in significant measure be prepared to trust its leaders to make the right decision.

There may not be a guarantee that the government will do so, but, except in the case of fundamentally evil regimes, it is more likely that the government would arrive at an appropriate course of action than would the general public.

This is not to say that the public has no voice in such matters. Particularly in democracies, it does. The public elects its leaders and, through public debate, helps guide its leaders’ decisions. Nevertheless, the general public does not bear ultimate responsibility for the decision to go to war. That belongs “to the prudential judgment” of its political leaders. They must evaluate the situation and make their best judgment whether the conditions for just war have been fulfilled.

**CONCLUSION

**As the Second Vatican Council noted, “insofar as men are sinful, the threat of war hangs over them, and hang over them it will until the return of Christ” (Gaudium et Spes 78). The danger of war will never be completely removed prior to the Second Coming.

Christ’s followers must be willing to meet this challenge. They must be willing to wage war when it is just and they must be willing to wage it in a just manner.

Simultaneously, they must work to establish a just and peaceful order among the nations. In so doing they seek to fulfill the words of the prophet, according to which the nations “shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more” (Is. 2:4).

This sounds so funny…because it appears the decision of just war does not rest in the public or the hands of the Pope…but among governments themselves. Hmmmmmmmm???

 

[dumspirospero]

Thats funny…where are all the people who don’t believe Bush has the right to decide what is a just war???

catholic.com/library/Just_war_Doctrine_1.asp

WHO DECIDES?

The evaluation of these conditions for moral legitimacy belongs to the prudential judgment of those who have responsibility for the common good.

Finally, the Catechism identifies those who have the burden of evaluating the conditions for whether a particular war is just: “those who have responsibility for the common good.” In modern nation-states, this means the government.

Governments are privy to information gathered by intelligence services and other means that the general public does not possess. Because the public is not in possession of this information, the public is not in as advantaged a position to determine whether the conditions are met. As a result, the public must in significant measure be prepared to trust its leaders to make the right decision.

There may not be a guarantee that the government will do so, but, except in the case of fundamentally evil regimes, it is more likely that the government would arrive at an appropriate course of action than would the general public.

This is not to say that the public has no voice in such matters. Particularly in democracies, it does. The public elects its leaders and, through public debate, helps guide its leaders’ decisions. Nevertheless, the general public does not bear ultimate responsibility for the decision to go to war. That belongs “to the prudential judgment” of its political leaders. They must evaluate the situation and make their best judgment whether the conditions for just war have been fulfilled.

CONCLUSION

As the Second Vatican Council noted, “insofar as men are sinful, the threat of war hangs over them, and hang over them it will until the return of Christ” (Gaudium et Spes 78). The danger of war will never be completely removed prior to the Second Coming.

Christ’s followers must be willing to meet this challenge. They must be willing to wage war when it is just and they must be willing to wage it in a just manner.

Simultaneously, they must work to establish a just and peaceful order among the nations. In so doing they seek to fulfill the words of the prophet, according to which the nations “shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more” (Is. 2:4).

This sounds so funny…because it appears the decision of just war does not rest in the public or the hands of the Pope…but among governments themselves. Hmmmmmmmm???

 

[Catholic2003]

dumspirospero:

This sounds so funny…because it appears the decision of just war does not rest in the public or the hands of the Pope…but among governments themselves. Hmmmmmmmm???

Just as the responsibility of deciding whom to vote for rests in the hands of the citizen casting his or her vote, and not in the hands of the Pope or the Bishops.

You are coming pretty close to saying that the Church has no business telling the government whether a war is just or not. To me, this sounds just like the cafeteria Catholics who say that the Church has no business telling the citizens who to vote for. But both of these are incorrect conclusions.

Bishop Botean addressed this argument as follows:
Bishop Botean 2003 Lent Message:

Paragraph 2309 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church states: “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” (emphasis added). Since war is about the mass infliction of death and suffering on children of God, Christians can enter into it and fight in it only if the war in question strictly meets all the criteria of the just war theory, and only if these same standards are likewise meticulously observed in the course of fighting the war. Vague, loose, freewheeling, conniving, relaxed interpretations of Catholic just war theory and its application are morally illegitimate because of “the gravity of such a decision.”

“The evaluation of these conditions of the just war theory for moral legitimacy belongs to the prudential judgment of those who have responsibility for the common good,” states the Catechism. (2309) However, the nation-state is never the final arbiter or authority for the Catholic of what is moral or for what is good for the salvation of his or her soul. What is legal can be evil and often has been. Jesus Christ and his Church, not the state, are the ultimate informers of conscience for the Catholic.

This is why the Church teaches as a norm of conscience the following: “If rulers were to enact unjust laws or take measures contrary to the moral order such arrangements would not be binding in conscience.” (Catechism 1903) She also warns “Blind obedience [to immoral laws] does not suffice to excuse those who carry them out” (Catechism 2313). When a moral conflict arises between Church teaching and secular morality, when contradictory moral demands are made upon a Catholic’s conscience, he or she “must obey God rather than man” (Acts 5:29).

 

[dumspirospero]

Call me what you want to, but I am just going off what the CCC states, and if that makes me a cafeteria Catholic…then so be it. Youre little quote didn’t prove anything either, since the war was totally justified…and to answer your question…NO, I don’t believe we should subordinate our countries national security to anyone or any country. The CCC clearly states countries are to decide in matters of just war, and that is necessary for their survival. WHen is the last time you heard of a Pope endorsing a conflict?

Catholic2003:

Just as the responsibility of deciding whom to vote for rests in the hands of the citizen casting his or her vote, and not in the hands of the Pope or the Bishops.

You are coming pretty close to saying that the Church has no business telling the government whether a war is just or not. To me, this sounds just like the cafeteria Catholics who say that the Church has no business telling the citizens who to vote for. But both of these are incorrect conclusions.

Bishop Botean addressed this argument as follows:

 

[Catholic2003]

dumspirospero:

Thats funny…where are all the people who don’t believe Bush has the right to decide what is a just war???

You’ve got this half-right and half-wrong.

President Bush has the right, as well as the responsibility, to decide whether or not to go to war. However, it is the Church’s moral teachings that determine whether a particular war is just or unjust.

Similarly, each voter has the right, as well as the responsibility, to decide who to vote for. However, it is the Church’s moral teachings that determine whether a particular vote is licit or sinful.

Nobody is saying that President Bush didn’t have the right to decide to “pre-emptively” attack Iraq. What Bishop Botean is saying is this decision was gravely sinful, and that the President is complicit in each and every death that resulted from the Iraqi war.

Funny how some people can fail to see this, yet they have no problem in stating that Kerry is complicit in the 1.3 million abortions that are performed each year in the U.S. However, the President’s level of complicity is much higher than Kerry’s, because Bush could have prevented the war all by himself, yet there is nothing that Kerry could do that would single-handedly stop all the abortions in the U.S.

 

[Salvo]

Thanks Catholic. Apparently to some people “if all squares are shapes, then all shapes must be squares…” The church is always clear on the fact that the state makes the decisions and has the right and authority to do so. But the chruch is the final authority on matters of faith and morals. The church has never said the state does not have the right to declare war. That is a given. The church is saying that the war the state declares may or may not be just. And it is the CHUIRCH, not a Protestant Preseident, who decides that.

No room for debate here.

 

[Esquire]

Nowhere does the “just war” doctrine authorize the civil authorities to lie the country into a war.

That is clear evidence of a lack of prudence.