"War in the Gulf: What the Pope Really Said"

A valuable compilation by Sandro Magister at L'Espresso Online:

There’s war in Iraq. A war strongly opposed up to the last minute by the Catholic Church. Opposed but never condemned, judging by what was said by its supreme authority, the pope.

The media have not been clear about this lack of condemnation. They have almost always reported John Paul II’s words as if they declared an absolute anathema on this war, if not indeed on all wars.

But there isn’t a trace of this condemnation in any of the frequent, relentless speeches in which the pope has called for peace in Iraq.

To verify this, see John Paul II’s original texts on the theme, carried at the bottom of the page. Ending with the March 19 general audience, the texts stretch back to Jan. 1, the day the Church traditionally dedicates to world peace.

In all of his speeches, the pope preaches peace, presenting it as an absolute imperative and the inescapable horizon of every decision that governments and individuals make. Yet he never goes so far as to define war in Iraq as “a crime against peace,” as have, for example, two of his aides, Archbishops Jean-Louis Tauran and Renato Martino....

(Thanks, Zoe.)

Lane Core Jr. CIW P — Tue. 04/01/03 12:28:40 PM
Categorized as Pope John Paul the Great & Religious.