June 09, 2016
Commentary: What happens if pope rejects 'just war' theory?
Recent events in Rome indicate that some influential figures in the Vatican want Pope Francis to use his next encyclical to jettison the "just war" theory as the way the church determines whether or not it is moral to go to war. In particular, they urge that the church replace this age-old model - which focuses on determining a fight's justifiability by the degree to which it complies with criteria like necessity, likelihood of success, proportionality, and discrimination - with a "peace movement" approach that comes very close to ruling out war as a legitimate instrument in any circumstances, and thus to pacifism.
To read the full article, visit the Philadelphia Inquirer website.
More from CNAS
-
The Venezuela Blockade
Roxanna Vigil, Council on Foreign Relations International Affairs Fellow, talks about President Donald Trump's order to blockade sanctioned oil tankers in Venezuela, and the r...
By Becca Wasser
-
The Astronomical Cost of Defeating ‘Any Foreign Aerial Attack’
Building Trump’s proposed missile and air defense system would be an enormous task — and the president’s spending target is likely just a fraction of the final price. CNAS adj...
By Becca Wasser
-
Defense / Transatlantic Security
When Defense Becomes Destruction: Austria-Hungary’s Mistake and Ukraine’s RiskThis article was originally posted on War on the Rocks. The southeastern Polish city of Przemyśl, with its elegant 19th century Habsburg-era train station, remains one of the ...
By Franz-Stefan Gady
-
Defense / Transatlantic Security
Ukraine’s Catch-22 MomentThis article was originally published in the Financial Times. In Joseph Heller’s wartime classic, Catch-22, the protagonist Yossarian seeks out the US army surgeon Doc Daneeka...
By Franz-Stefan Gady